Preview: Celtics look to bounce back vs. Trail Blazers

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The Boston Celtics were trailing by just six points going into the fourth quarter at Sacramento, a time when all eyes focus on Isaiah Thomas, who has been the NBA’s best fourth-quarter scorer this season.
 
But for most of the game, Thomas didn’t have that usual bounce or burst of energy that has made him one of the most unstoppable scoring forces in the NBA. Wednesday’s 108-92 loss to the Kings exposed one of the team’s greatest concerns, which is relying too much on Thomas to bail them out when they struggle collectively as a team.
 
“We can’t rely on Isaiah to score 30, 40 points,” Marcus Smart told reporters after the loss. “Everybody has to contribute.”
  
They will need to do just that tonight as they try to bounce back against the Portland Trail Blazers, a team Boston believes it owes a bit of payback to following a 127-123 home loss in overtime on Jan. 21.
 
In the two-minute report released by the league two days after the game, it was determined that a late steal and lay-up by Smart should have counted and would have put Boston ahead 112-111 with 10.8 seconds to play in regulation. Instead the officials called Smart for a foul.
 
Portland went on to outscore Boston, 14-10, in overtime.
 
“They got one at our house last time we played them,” Smart said. “We know what to expect.”
  
And teams know what to expect most nights from the Celtics --- lots of points from Thomas, who had 26 points, though only seven in the fourth quarter -- against the Kings.
 
While that has certainly worked for Boston most of this season, they need others to step up and deliver consistently when opportunities to make shots present themselves.
 
In the Kings loss, Amir Johnson (14 points, 6-for-7 shooting) was able to run the floor as well as move along the baseline to spots where Thomas found him for easy scores.
 
But beyond Johnson, Thomas didn’t get much help from the rest of his teammates who struggled to make shots.

“We were back turning the ball over, our offensive decision-making wasn’t good all night,” Brad Stevens told reporters after the loss. “For the better part of the last three quarters, they just did whatever they wanted to.”
 
And while the Blazers (23-30) have struggled this season to win games, their explosive backcourt of Damon Lillard and C.J. McCollum present an even greater challenge than Sacramento which was forced to play a smaller lineup due to DeMarcus Cousins serving a one-game suspension after picking up his 16th technical foul this season.
 
According to Hoopsstats.com, the Blazers’ backcourt ranks second in the NBA in scoring at 58.4 points per game.
 
Boston has been so successful this season by outscoring teams, a path that has been led by Thomas who is the NBA’s second-leading scorer at 29.8 points per game.
 
And during their recently-ended seven game winning streak, the Celtics got major scoring production from several players.
 
But ultimately the Celtics have to figure out a way to improve defensively because as we saw on Wednesday night, scoring isn’t always going to be there regardless of how well Stevens’ X's and O's look.
 
“It seemed like as the game went on, we got slower and slower,” Thomas told reporters after the loss.
 
Maybe it was the long flight over, or having too much down time, or maybe they took the Kings for granted because of their record and the fact that Cousins wasn’t playing.
 
But the reason at this point is irrelevant.
 
“There’s no excuses,” Thomas said. “We have to play better.”
 

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