Celtics’ strong defensive effort vs. Blazers was a refreshing confidence boost the team needed

BOSTON — The Celtics snapped their three-game losing streak on Wednesday night, giving the team a much-needed boost of confidence ahead of a six-game road trip. Boston got back to doing what has led to the majority of their success over the last 12 months: A balanced attack on offense and some strong, solid defense.

Yes, in a season dominated by talk of Boston’s offense, the Celtics actually played solid defense in Wednesday night’s 115-93 win over the Blazers. It led to the team’s first 20-point victory in over a month, something we didn’t think they were capable of after letting giant leads slip away in each of the last three losses.

And while the Blazers aren’t even in a muddled Western Conference playoff picture, they still possess a very good offense led by one of the game’s best scoring guards in Damian Lillard. The Celtics held him to “just” 27 points as Lillard was held to 16 shot attempts — his fewest in a game since January 2. Granted, he only played 30 minutes thanks to Boston building a 22-point lead by the end of the third quarter, but the Celtics essentially made Lillard a non-factor. He was just 2-for-8 from 3-point range — with both of those makes coming in the game’s opening minutes. 

Marcus Smart gave Lillard open space for some reason on Portland’s opening possession, drifting off a guy averaging 32.3 points per game to help on big man Jusuf Nurkic, but that was a mistake he didn’t make the rest of the way. Smart or another Boston defender was in Lillard’s shorts for most of the contest, and those two early threes were the only points he scored against Smart in 15 possessions against the defending DPOY.

Overall, the Blazers shot just 11-for-39 from downtown, as the Celtics got back to locking down the 3-point line. Without that long-range strike as part of their arsenal, Portland mustered just 93 points. It was just the eighth time this season that the Blazers failed to reach the century mark, and just the fourth time they’ve been held under 100 with Lillard on the floor.

It had been exactly one month since the Celtics kept an opponent under 100. They’ve now done it a dozen times this season, and are 10-2 in those contests. A nice reminder that defense really does matter.

It certainly helped that the Celtics kept the Blazers off the offensive glass, after allowing opponents to average 13 offensive boards over their three-game skid. The Celtics allowed the Cavaliers to pull down 10 offensive rebounds in the fourth quarter and overtime on Monday night, watching a 14-point lead disappear in the process. The Blazers had just six offensive rebounds on Wednesday, which kept them from getting out in transition. Portland had just nine points off the fast break, and Boston controlling the glass (despite playing a lot of small ball lineups) kept the Blazers to just seven second-chance points. 

But the most promising aspect of Boston’s defense was their focus on closing quarters strong. After giving away big leads in the last three games, the Celtics never let the Blazers get back into it on Wednesday. When they were able to get within 13 late in the third, Boston locked down and ripped off a 9-2 run, capped off by Jayson Tatum splashing home a three with four seconds left to get the lead back up to 22. Tatum scored 14 of his 30 points in the third, and was rewarded by getting the entire fourth quarter off.

It led to a rather boring fourth quarter, but that was a welcome sight given the three straight Celtics collapses over the last week.

There really shouldn’t be a big celebration for the Celtics beating a bad Blazers team at home. This team is hoping to win a title, and they should be beating teams like this. But it was how they got it done that was refreshing. The Celtics built a big lead and held on to it this time. All five starters scored in double digits, as did Malcolm Brogdon off the bench. No one logged big minutes (Al Horford was on the floor for just 24 minutes) and the big guns got a chance to rest in the fourth quarter — without having to worry about yet another lead slipping away.

The Celtics showed some signs that their recent skid was just a bump in the road. And if they can continue to play solid defense the way they did Wednesday, maybe it won’t be such a disappointing summer after all.