Horford’s Super Shot on Super Bowl Sunday Sinks Blazers, 97-96

The big game was on today, but if you woke up late you may have missed it. The Boston Celtics were without Kyrie Irving, Marcus Smart and Marcus Morris for today’s 9:00 am tip-off, but still managed to pull out the 97-96 victory thanks to a buzzer-beating game winner from Al Horford. The Blazers were led by CJ McCollum with 22 points and Damian Lillard had 21. The Celtics were led by Horfod with 22 points and 10 rebounds.

Nurkic had all the coffee in the first quarter

The early start time did not bother Jusuf Nurkic, his 10 points in the first quarter helped the Blazers gain early traction when both teams looked as lively as a Bill Belichick interview. However, Nurkic never looked as good the rest of the game and eventually fouled out with only 14 points and 8 rebounds.

Maurice Harkless

With Shabazz Napier out with an injury, Moe Harkless got to fill in some minutes off the bench. And Moe made the best of it. Harkless was 5-5 on 3-pointers and led all scorers in the first half with 14. He ended the night with 19 points.

Damian Lillard

Lillard looked out of sorts this game, until the fourth quarter. With the Blazers down late, Lillard scored 6 straight to nearly win it for the Blazers. He was just 6-19 (2-9 from three) from the field. Lillard had 9 assists and 6 rebounds to round out his rough shooting night.

A little football with your basketball

For a stretch of this game, it got pretty physical with the Blazers taking the brunt of the blows. Pat Connaughton, Lillard and Zach Collins each got a nice dose of elbows to the face. Collins appeared to fare the worst as he was doing his best Gary Oldman as Dracula impression while heading to the bench.

Playing the part of the Atlanta Falcons are..

It wasn’t a 28-3 collapse, but the Blazers blew a 16-point lead in the second half as the Celtics took the lead late in the fourth quarter. CJ McCollum and Damian Lillard tried to rescue the Blazers and Lillard nearly won it, but Al Horford hit a buzzer beater to win the game.

And they say football is violent...

Box Score

The Blazers finish their three-game road swing tomorrow night at Detroit against Blake Griffin and the new-look Pistons. Tipoff is at 4pm. Stay tuned to Blazer’s Edge for a full analysis of this game and more.