Jaylen Brown tossed in a team-high 26 points and the Boston Celtics stretched their home winning streak to 13 games by beating the Portland Trail Blazers 124-107 Sunday night.
Brown made 10 of 17 field goals, including 3 of his 5 3-point attempts, in 30 minutes. The Celtics didn’t play their starters in the final quarter.
Boston’s Payton Pritchard made 9 of 13 field goals and finished the game with 20 points and eight assists. Kristaps Porzingis added 12 points, 10 rebounds, five blocked shots and three steals for Boston, which played without leading scorer Jayson Tatum (knee contusion).
Portland trailed by eight points entering the fourth quarter and failed to get any closer in the final 12 minutes. The Celtics were up 112-94 after Xavier Tillman banked in a 3-pointer with 4:16 to play, and Boston had its largest lead of the game after another Tillman basket made it 122-103 with 1:07 left.
Portland’s Dalano Banton came off the bench to score a game-high 28 points. He also had nine assists.
The Trail Blazers received 22 points and 14 rebounds from Deandre Ayton and 14 points and 18 rebounds from Jabari Walker. Portland had a 53-40 rebounding edge but shot 39.2 percent from the field.
It was Boston’s second victory over Portland this season. The Celtics earned a 121-99 road victory on March 11.
Boston led 30-24 after one quarter and 63-56 at halftime. The Celtics made 24 of their 42 field-goal attempts in the half (57.1 percent), including 9 of 19 shots from 3-point territory. Portland shot a meager 36.7 percent from the field (22 of 60).
The Celtics had a 70-56 lead after Derrick White hit a shot with 9:59 remaining in the third, but Portland clawed within 85-81 with 1:57 left in the quarter. Boston led 93-85 entering the fourth.
–Field Level Media
