Blazers @ BOS Game Preview (11/23/14):
Our Last game: v. CHI 11/21/14 W 105-87. Damian Lillard had 21 points and nine assists to help the Trail Blazers beat the short-handed Chicago Bulls 105-87 on Friday night. Portland led 61-42 at the half.
LaMarcus Aldridge had two 3-pointers, and passed to Robin Lopez for a dunk to put Portland up 70-45 before the Blazers sat their starters for the final period.
Their Last game: L 117-100 @ MEM: Kelly Olynyk led Boston with 18 points. Jared Sullinger had 13 points, Jeff Green added 12, while Avery Bradley and Marcus Thornton finished with 11 points each.
ESPN recap said:
Boston, which trailed by 14 in the first half, made a run to open the third. Eventually, the Celtics, behind Olynyk's 14 points in the quarter, used a 14-4 run to get it under double digits.
Boston never got the deficit below nine points in the fourth.
"I think we played well in stretches, but there were certainly stretches where we didn't," (Coach Brad) Stevens said. "There are some guys out on the floor on (the Grizzlies) we can learn a lot from, especially our young bigs."
Changes to their roster:
BasketballInsiders.com said:
The future is simultaneously bright and dismal in Boston. The Celtics bit the rebuilding bullet hard last year, trading away Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce and Doc Rivers in exchange for salary ballast (Gerald Wallace still has two years left on what is probably the worst contract in the NBA) and a bevy of future draft picks. But the current reality is roster with only one player–Marcus Smart–who looks like a good bet to become an above-average NBA starter on the next good Celitcs team. Avery Bradley, Kelly Olynyk, and Jared Sullinger have their strengths, but they all look to be mostly one-way players. Rajon Rondo’s contract will expire at age 29 next offseason, and he should not be a part of the Celtics’ long-term plans considering his age and likely salary demands. And while the squad has both draft assets and cap space, it remains to be seen whether superstars may be available via trade or free agency. Even if one were, the lack of established talent on the roster could hamstring efforts to acquire such a star.
Perhaps the best asset in Boston is their coach, Brad Stevens. The former Butler wizard scraped together a nearly league-average defense from a roster without a single decent defensive big man last season, but he (like most coaches) proved powerless to improve the offense given the lack of high-end talent. Some may point to the potential return to form of Rondo, but it is worth remembering that the Celtics struggled offensively in 2011 and 2012 even with a younger Rondo at the controls of an offense featuring Garnett, Pierce, and Ray Allen. It seems very unlikely the offense will improve much on last year’s 27th ranked attack.
Injury Updates Portland: Nic Batum (out), CJ McCollum (out). Boston: Marcus Smart (out)
Matchups:
PG: Damian Lillard v. Rajon Rondo (9.8ppg, 11apg, 7.7rpg) There may not be anyone playing better than Dame in the league right now (though someone’s going to talk about Anthony Davis). Rondo has been his normal walking-triple-double stat machine, but 33% (!!??!) from FT and his normal FG inefficiency combine to not help the team much when he does hang on to the ball.
SG: Wesley Matthews v. Avery Bradley (14.2 ppg, 2.5 rpg, 1.2 apg)
SF: Nic Batum/Allen Crabbe v. Jeff Green (18.4ppg, 5.3 rpg) Green’s never lived up to the hype of the #5 pick in the Durant/Oden/Noah/Horford draft, but he’s evolved into a steady scorer and one that can put up 20 on you in a blink. Crabbe’s looked solid defensively in his time spelling Batum, and with Nic (mostly) back, I’m less worried about the BOS wings than previously the case.
PF: LaMarcus Aldridge v. Jared Sullinger. (15.7ppg, 8.5rpg) LMA should have a big night against whoever draws primary duty on him. He can handle both Sullinger and Olynyk down low, and if Bass comes in it could be a field day.
C: Robin Lopez v. Kelly Olynyk (12.9ppg, 5.9 rpg)
Give-a-Rip (City) Factor—a.k.a. why you should watch: To see if Portland can keep up their streak of hot play when they go on the road. To see if they can put up 140 against a team that can go up-and-down with them, but who plays Ike Diogu defense. To see if MickZagger’s favorite non-Blazer is worth the hype, is “just” a legit NBA player or is just a long-haired Meyers Leonar_ wanna-be.
Current Power Rankings:
RipCityTwo (PtldPlatypus): (26) I am in awe of the lack of outside shooting on this roster. Is Olynyk actually their best deep threat?
ESPN: (22) Perhaps it's a little easier for Celts fans to take knowing LeBron had to score a season-high 41 to spark an epic Cavs comeback or perhaps not. Until Friday night's collapse, Boston hadn't lost a game at home after entering the fourth quarter with a lead of 17 or more since March 1988 against Philly.
NBA.com (19) Pace: 98.8 (4), OffRtg: 107.9 (6), DefRtg: 109.7 (27), NetRtg: -1.8 (19)
After Cleveland, the Celtics have the league's most improved offense, which has been particularly good when floor-spacers Jared Sullinger and Kelly Olynyk have played together. But they've allowed their opponents to score 60-plus points in the second half of their last three games (four overall) and have blown leads of 15-plus in the last two.
covers.com (23) The league's top Over team. They are No. 3 in scoring, but unfortunately (for them) also third worst in terms of points allowed.
Link to Grandpa Blaze's Prediction Game
MediocreMan's Over/Under game not available on weekends.
Links to other team’s site(s) NBA.com
Final Thoughts While POR has not demonstrated dominance on the road yet, BOS has shown that, while they can score some points, there are more than capable of giving up some
really crooked numbers. They are 3rd-worst in the league in giving up first-quarter points, so I’m thinking that POR should jump out to a big lead, hold on for most of the game and it’ll only be a matter of when Coach Stotts calls off the dogs.
Blazers 125
BOS 108
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BLAZERS' GAME NOTES 
