It’s rare for the Boston Celtics to play undisciplined basketball — and it’s even rarer for veterans Derrick White and Jaylen Brown to shoulder the blame for a fourth-quarter collapse.
But against the Western Conference’s 10th-seeded Portland Trail Blazers on Sunday night, White and Brown received a harsh reminder of the need to minimize mistakes. The cost? Their four-game winning streak and ground as the No. 3 seed in the Eastern Conference, following a blundering 114-108 defeat at the Moda Center.
First, the Celtics strung together consecutive 30-point quarters in the opening half. Then the offense slowed, failing to reach 25 points in either quarter after halftime and boxing Boston into a final 12 minutes where the margin for error was paper-thin. White and Brown, with a chance to steer the Celtics past the Trail Blazers and escape victoriously, failed to execute.
“It’s just my bad,” White admitted. “I just gotta be better and make sure we’re all on the same page, and we gotta get a shot up in those times. There were three turnovers there, and it’s all my fault, and I gotta be better — especially in a moment like that.”
In the fourth quarter alone, White and Brown accounted for five of Boston’s 20 turnovers, four coming in the final four minutes. With 1:08 remaining, Brown turned it over to Portland’s Shaedon Sharpe while attempting to get the Celtics’ offense set. Five seconds later, White misfired a pass while crossing halfcourt, resulting in a backcourt violation.
Portland’s 107-105 lead at that point still left Boston with a narrow window to steal the game.
With 20 seconds left and the Celtics trailing by four, White miscalculated another pass to Brown, committing Boston’s 19th turnover just 23 seconds after he had buried a clutch 3-pointer to cut the deficit to one — and 43 seconds after the backcourt violation. Brown had a clear path to the rim with a foolproof chance of cutting the lead down to two, which would’ve given the Celtics a chance to tie or take the lead on their next possession.
In hindsight, disbelief lingered for White as he reflected on those decisive final seconds.
“I feel like, especially us two, we’ve been in these situations in the past,” White said. “I don’t know what it is, but it happened tonight, and we’ve just got to learn from it and make sure it doesn’t happen again.”
Brown finished with 37 points, leaving him one 30-point performance shy of surpassing Larry Bird’s franchise record for most consecutive games in Celtics history. White, meanwhile, struggled to find rhythm, finishing with 12 points on 2-of-10 shooting from beyond the arc. Boston shot an uncharacteristic 30% from three (13-of-44), placing the burden of closing out a win squarely on the shoulders of Brown and White.
In retrospect, Brown’s turnover to Sharpe came as no surprise to Boston.
“There is a balance there,” Mazzulla admitted. “But at the same time, you knew exactly what was going to happen. With certain guys, they blitz, and we knew exactly what was going to happen. We have to be able to execute in those moments, so it’s just something we’ll continue to get better at.”
Boston’s turnover total was its highest since Nov. 18 against the Brooklyn Nets — the only other game this season in which the Celtics committed 20 or more.
Turnovers weren’t the end-all, be-all of Boston’s accountability. While giveaways were a major issue and four of the team’s final five were glaringly atrocious, there were plenty of other factors that contributed to Sunday night’s collapse.
Payton Pritchard and Jordan Walsh combined for just 14 points, with Pritchard shooting 3-of-10 and Walsh logging only 10 minutes as a starter. To make matters worse, starting center Neemias Queta and reserve Luka Garza each reached their fifth personal foul at key moments — Garza with 2:47 left in the third and Queta with 9:06 remaining in the fourth — forcing Mazzulla into a tough rotation with his only two big men.
Boston’s coach didn’t single out any one area, viewing the defeat as the result of the team collectively faltering at various critical junctures.
“Staff, players, we have to do a better job of adjusting as the game goes on,” Mazzulla said.
