Morris, Celtics come back to beat Blazers in Portland 105-100


The Boston Celtics kicked off a four-game Western Conference road trip in Portland and came away with a 105-100 victory over Damian Lillard and the red-hot Trail Blazers.

Portland bulldozed the Celtics inside in the first quarter, taking a 14-6 advantage in paint scoring, but Boston managed to keep the score within three by the end of the period despite it's five turnovers. Marcus Morris headed to the locker room midway through the quarter with an apparent ankle injury.

Morris returned in the second period, and the Celtics were able to tie it up nine minutes in behind his hot shooting which included a four-point play.



Portland retaliated towards the end of the quarter as Boston's offense slowed, and the gap was re-opened to 5 by the end of the half.

The Blazers' backcourt of Lillard and CJ McCollum heated up in the third as Portland further widened the point differential to 10. Boston continued to struggle with ball control and Portland capitalized to increase their fast break scoring total to 13.

Jayson Tatum helped the Celtics kick off a fourth quarter comeback with a 14-6 run, and Boston kept it's foot on the pedal as Marcus Morris knocked down a three halfway through the quarter to give his team it's first lead since early in the first. Both squads went on to trade blows until Morris buried another from outside with just under a minute left to put Boston up five, and the Celts remained in cruise control until the final buzzer sounded.


Marcus Morris led all scorers with 30 points on just 13 shots (5/6 3PT).

Kyrie Irving sat out again and will have minimally-invasive surgery done to repair his sore knee on Saturday. A timetable for his return has not yet been provided.

Jaylen Brown missed another game under the NBA's concussion protocol, but was a partial-participant in practice and hopes to make his return on Sunday.

The Celtics now head to Sacramento to face the 24-49 Kings on Sunday evening.


Photo credit: @Celtics (Twitter)
Follow Brendan at @brendansanders0
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