Preview: Portland Trail Blazers at Boston Celtics
By Ryan Allison
Today at 3:00 p.m. PST, the Portland Trail Blazers take on the Boston Celtics. It marks only the fourth road game of the year for the Trail Blazers, who come in on a six-game winning streak. The Celtics have not been able to get things rolling during the early part of the season and have lost four of their last five games. You can catch the game on CSNNW and Rip City Radio 620 AM.
Boasting a six-game winning streak, the Trail Blazers have found their rhythm. They defeated a Chicago Bulls team that was without two key players but found a way to not let that affect their mindset. Most know that the Bulls are great with Derrick Rose and Pau Gasol yet few realize how competitive they are when those two are sidelined. The Trail Blazers could have sat back and watched the reserves come into the Moda Center and steal a win but that didn’t happen. Now a whole new set of challenges face the Trail Blazers and it starts with road production.
They currently sit at 1-2 on the road with the only win coming against the Denver Nuggets on the second night of their first back-to-back. What has worked at home but failed to show up on the road is defense. The Trail Blazers are giving up 107.3 points on the road and only 91.1 points at home. Now, the sample size is vastly different (Portland has played nine home games versus three road games) but the gap in defensive execution is still a cause for concern. It will be up to Lillard and Matthews to set the defensive pace early in the game.
The Celtics should be winning more games if you simply look at their lineup. They have a tremendous amount of talent but have not yet figured out how to play together. Their starting five gives you scoring with Green, rebounding with Sullinger, passing with Rondo, defense with Bradley, and great hair with Olynyk. All joking aside, that’s a pretty good starting squad and they also have depth off the bench. Brandon Bass, Marcus Thornton, Evan Turner, and ex-Blazer Gerald Wallace all come off the bench. So why aren’t the Celtics winning games? Actually a very valid question.
Let’s look at the point guard matchup up close and find out which one has the upper hand in today’s game. Lillard has been off the charts recently. Over the last five games, he is averaging 25.8 points and 8.4 assists while shooting 56.4 percent from the field. Oh, I forgot to throw in that he is 20-31 (64.5%) from distance. Incredible numbers for someone who started the season in a “slump”. Rondo leads the league in assists per game, with an average of 11.0. He is coming off a season-low four assists in a loss at Memphis so he’ll surely be looking to spread the ball around today. Rondo’s Achilles heel is his free throw shooting. He is shooting 33.3 percent from the charity stripe which makes Shaquille O’Neal and Dwight Howard look good.
Lillard struggled against the Celtics last year, scoring a combined 32 points in two games. In fact, for his career, Lillard is only averaging 13.0 points against the Celtics. That is his second lowest points per game average, with the worst coming against the Orlando Magic at 12.5 points per game. Rondo has freakishly long arms which may disrupt Lillard’s game flow. If he can shake Rondo and play the way he has been over the last five games, the Celtics will most likely have a loss in store.