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The Portland Trail Blazers put a positive ending to an otherwise nightmarish East Coast road trip on Saturday afternoon in Boston. On the second game of a back-to-back, following a heart-wrenching loss to the surging Philadelphia 76ers, expectations outside of the Trail Blazer locker room were not very high going into the contest against a quality Boston Celtics team. However, Portland responded with a gut-check, overtime victory in which they simply refused to give up.
In a difficult season, this was most certainly an unexpected bright spot. Despite battling foul trouble the entire game, the Trail Blazers were able to snatch a 127-123 victory from the jaws of defeat on the road against the third best team in the Eastern Conference. Celtics guard Isaiah Thomas led all scorers with 41 points, and CJ McCollum led the Trail Blazers with 35.
Meyers Leonard provided a spark off the bench, scoring 17 points and adding some first half fireworks:
M E Y E R S pic.twitter.com/1vuk54C60t
— Trail Blazers (@trailblazers) January 21, 2017
Not a replay, just another @MeyersLeonard11 poster. pic.twitter.com/gWTmzdGNIH
— Trail Blazers (@trailblazers) January 21, 2017
Portland’s new, experimental starting lineup has drawn both praise and positive results:
Biggest impact of the Blazers new starting group is that Portland now has a competent bench lineup.
— Mike Richman (@mikegrich) January 21, 2017
The victory encapsulated a total team effort:
CJ McCollum drawing oohs and ahhs from the Boston crowd. He's 5-of-5 and has 12 of Blazers' 18. Portland leads 18-16
— Jason Quick (@jwquick) January 21, 2017
Mason Plumlee just 2 assists short of a triple-double, btw
— Casey Holdahl (@CHold) January 22, 2017
Damian Lillard was proud of the team’s performance after the game:
Overall, it was a great day to be a Blazer:
The joy and wonder of sports...heartache 1 night, exhilaration the next! Gutsy effort by the @trailblazers...Now home for the next 5!
— Brian Wheeler (@blazerwheels) January 22, 2017
The Trail Blazers (19-27) now have three days off before hosting the Los Angeles Lakers (16-31) Wednesday night at the Moda Center. The team will honor the 1977 NBA Champion team at halftime of the game, with members of that immortal squad in attendance. The game will be nationally televised on ESPN.