The Boston Celtics hosted the Portland Trail Blazers on Monday night. Former Celtics guard Jrue Holiday suited up against the C’s for the first time since his June 23rd, 2025 trade. Boston had a moving video tribute for the two-time NBA champion in the first quarter, and was given a standing ovation by the Celtic faithful. Boston lead all night and Portland hung around late, but Boston would win it 102-94, Pritchard had 23 points and Jaylen Brown had 20 points.
Boston started the game with Sam Hauser, Neemias Queta, Jaylen Brown, Payton Pritchard and Derrick White. Jrue Holiday started for the road Blazers running the point alongside, Clingan, Camara, Cissoko and Sharpe.
Both teams started out cold missing the first 9 field goal attempts before Neemias Queta scored on a mini jump hook in the key at the ten minute mark of the first quarter. Jaylen Brown had his second assist as he found Derrick White on the outlet fast break layup.
Portland were scoreless for the first four minutes of the game. Robert Williams III checked into the game for the road team, finally faced off against his former team for his time, due to numerous injuries for the Trail Blazers. Queta was subbed out for Amari Williams as the first big off the bench, Boston up 13-5 to start the game.
Hugo Gonzalez got snubbed by the league prior to the game, missing out on the Rookie vs. Sophomore game. He hit a swooping layup to open his account, Amari Williams assisted it off to his fellow rookie. White drew a poair of Trail Blazer defenders and dumped it off to Amari Williams for the two handed dunk. Boston’s lead was out to 12 points, 19-7.
Boston closed out the quarter in dominate fashion, highlighted by a Pritchard buzzer beater three, up by a massive 21 points after one quarter, 32-11.
Boston started the second quarter with Simons, Queta, Sheierman, White and Hauser as the Celtics looked to keep the pressure on Portland. Portland was shooting a dismal 19 percent from the field, and just 1-12 from downtown and were without Deni Advija for the game. Holiday hit the Blazers second three-pointer as they looked to get back into the game.
Portland got it back to 14 points midway through the quarter, Robert Williams in the thick of some good defensive and offensive stretch of play for the Blazers. Portland started the quarter on a 15-5 run as the home team struggled with turnovers and offensive fouls to start the quarter. Boston had 7 turnovers total in the second quarter in a sloppy quarter, compared to the Blazers with 8 turnovers.
Boston shooting a paltry 3/14 from the field in the second quarter at the three minute mark of the first quarter. Amari Williams was doing a little bit of everything for Boston in his 15 minutes of first half action. Simons swished home a corner three-pointer and Pritchard hit a second buzzer beater as Boston headed into halftime with a 15-point lead, 52-37.
Pritchard hit a three-pointer to open up the third quarter for his 15th point of the night, a game high. Derrick White dunked it home on the fast break as Boston extended the lead to 20-points. Pritchard hit another triple with the shot clock winding down after Amari Williams had his push shot rejected by the Timelord.
Robert Williams III was making life tough for Boston inside, his presence saw multiple Celtics players altering their shots in the third quarter. Williams was sagging off Amari Williams playing a free safety type of role for the Trail Blazers.
Jaylen Brown was whistled for a tech for shoving Toumani Camara under the basket, Blazers back within 10 points 66-56 with four minutes to go in the third quarter. Brown and Camara were going at it as things were getting physical. Pritchard’s step back two-pointer over Caleb Love was his 20th point of the game, giving Boston a 13-point lead, 73-60.
Brown hit a tough step back over two Blazer defenders to close the third quarter as things were tight in a low scoring game, Celtics by 10 points, 75-65.
Robert Williams dunked home an alley oop to start the 4th, cutting Boston’s lead to 8 points. Simons scored a two-point jumper at the other end, he then went coast to coast to score over Williams in transition. Sam Hauser finally hit his first three-pointer of the game after missing his first four attempts. Portland was hanging around though as the lead seesawed around 10 points to start the fourth quarter.
Joe Mazzulla rested Brown for the first six minutes of the fourth after his heavy minute load in the last two B2B games on the road. Derrick White hit a triple, Hauser hit mid range floater to cap a 9-0 run for the home team. Hauser was in rhythm and hit his next three-point attempt, Boston ahead by 14 points with six minutes to go.
Brown checked back into the game to try and finish things off for Boston. Pritchard’s corner three-pointer came off a sweet Derrick White dish, it was his 23rd point. Boston held a 13 point lead with three minutes to go at the last TV timeout. Rookie Amari Williams was a plus 8 off the bench for Boston, the Kentucky product would finish the game with a decent stat line of 9 points, 7 boards and 2 blocks.
Pritchard jammed his finger on a rebound attempt and went straight to the back with the trainers. Jerami Grant drove inside to cut the Celtics lead to 7 points. Boston struggling to close out the game and fouled Camara who then cut it to 5 points with 35 seconds to go. A Derrick White triple finally iced the game, White let out a sigh of relief as he had 7 turnovers on the night in a physical game.
The Boston Celtics next host the Atlanta Hawks on Wednesday night 7:30pm EST, 28th of January.
