Recap: Cs Struggle again in 4th, Fall to Trail Blazers

The Celtics held one of the NBA’s top offenses under 100 points Sunday night, but struggled on the offensive end and lost 94-88. As to be expected, LaMarcus Aldridge led the way for the Trail Blazers with 20 points and 14 rebounds, while Chris Kaman had 16 off the bench and Steve Blake chipped in 11. The Trail Blazers have now won 7 in a row.

Jeff Green and Jared Sullinger led the way for the Celtics in the scoring column, each finishing with 19 points while Rajon Rondo totaled 13 points 8 assists and 6 rebounds.

The first half saw a significantly better effort on defense than we have seen from this Celtics team all season. They held the Blazers to 35% shooting from the floor including a 2/8 mark from Damian Lillard and a 4/13 from LaMarcus Aldridge. The Cs would have went into the half with a bigger lead had they been able to shoot better than 40% from the field.

The Celtics put together another solid defensive effort in the 2^nd half, creating 10 turnovers. However, they shot a woeful 38% from the field. The 4^th quarter struggles continued as the Cs shot just 26% in the quarter, including a 2/9 4^th from Jared Sullinger.

The Green

• This was the Celtics best defensive effort of the season. The Trail Blazers came in as the league’s 3rd ranked offense, and the Cs were able to slow them down for the majority of the game, an encouraging sign moving forward.
• Evan Turner has quietly put together a couple nice games in a row now, finishing with 10 points, 5 rebounds and 3 assists in just 14 minutes tonight after a 10/6/5 line on Friday.
• Rajon Rondo continued his effective play with 13 points, 8 assists and 6 rebounds

The Gross

• The Celtics had their worst scoring output of the season, shooting just 39% for the game
• Avery Bradley continued his shooting struggles, going 6/18 from the floor and 1/8 from 3
• Kelly Olynyk finished the game with 0 points on just 3 shot attempts despite playing 27 minutes
• This Gerald Wallace layup

The Greenlights

Rondo finds Green for the dunk

Nice anticipation by K.O. leads to Bradley layup

Rondo fakes out Aldridge and Lillard with classic pass fake

Strong take by Jeff Green across the lane

The Grid

• Celtics continue poor 3 point shooting going 5/23
• Boston forced 16 Turnovers while only committing 8
• Cs were well below their average assist total with 17 tonight

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