Boston Celtics burst Disney ‘bubble’ Blazers 128-124 in a nailbiter

The Boston Celtics blew a big early lead, but cae away with a gritty 128-124 win in their second game of the 2019-20 Disney restart.

The Boston Celtics collided with a hungry Portland Trail Blazers on Sunday afternoon for their second contest of the Disney-hosted restart of the 2019-20 NBA season, and both teams were going full-barrel almost from the rip.

Portland’s much bigger frontline came away with the tip, with recently-returned big man Jusuf Nurkic tipping in the first bucket of the game.

Center Daniel Theis responded quickly with an and-1 off of a slick pass by point guard Kemba Walker, and the two teams went mano-a-mano to start things off.

Former Celtic Paul Pierce, Jayson Tatum’s son Deuce, Walker’s mother and Brad Wanamaker’s daughter all made an appearance as virtual fans in the sideline video board as Boston’s intensity and surprising accuracy beyond the arc saw the Celtics get some early separation.

The Celtics kept their foot on the gas, going up 29-17 off of a Gordon Hayward trey with a little over three minutes left in the frame, and finishing it up 37-24.

The Celtics started to run away with the game as the second quarter got underway, Boston pushing the lead as high as 20 off of a Tatum 3-pointer, the yips he’d been having going the way of his curls.

Portland continued to struggle with their collective shot, allowing the Celtics to continue pushing the lead up, forward semi Ojeleye hitting a 3 that put them up 58-34.

As the half wound down, the Trail Blazers made small dents in the lead, but Boston would answer back after every short run with a season-record 11 3-pointers launched by the team in the first half.

Driven in large part by Tatum’s return to star form, the Celtics went into the break up 67-48.

Tatum kept attacking from the start of the third quarter, quickly scoring a layup to start the frame. Portland pushed back however, cutting the lead to 69-52 off a Nurkic layup.

As Blazers forward Zach Collins started to warm up, it looked like Portland might be able to cut into the lead further, only to see Tatum drain another trey at the 9:20 mark to put Boston back up by 20.

Portland continued to scrap, but Boston had an answer at every turn; Damien Lillard would hit a super-deep 3, only to see Brown hit a trey with a foul called.

The Blazers kept at it though, and cut the lead to 87-75 off a Gary Trent triple, and Lillard would cut the lead to 11 from the stripe, and then again to six with a four-point play soon after, Boston ending the penultimate frame up 94-86.

The final frame saw Lillard cut the lead to four with a pair of treys, and McCollum hit another to cut it 96-95 with 10:29 to go, forcing a Boston timeout. Theis hit a jumper off a Wanamaker pass, but Lillard would tie it at 98 with his fifth 3 of the game as Pierce could be seen fretting in the virtual stands.

McCollum hit another trey to take the lead, but Brown would answer back with a 3 of his own. Hassan Whiteside came right back with a floater, and Lillard would push it to 105-101 Blazers with a fade-away.

A pair of layups from Brown and Tatum would tie it up, with both teams trading blows over several possessions as the quarter wound down. A pair of makes from the charity stripe by Hayward and  a 3-pointer from Brown gave the Celtics a six-point lead, and Carmelo Anthony would hit a trey of his own to cut it back 125-122.

A questionable call (again) over a pass from Tatum to Hayward sent possession back to the Blazers, and then Theis and Nurkic collided as Lillard tried to get through a screen.

Nurkic would lay it in to cut the lead to one, and Stevens called his final timeout, and Portland would send Hayward to the line, converting both.  The Servian center would throw the ball away on the inbounds, and Tatum would put the game away at the line, 128-124.

[lawrence-related id=39961,39948,39939,39932]