The Portland Trail Blazers had one of the lowest regular season win totals in the Association this year, but they're just a few wins away from clinching up a playoff spot. The Boston Celtics know they're headed to the postseason, but there's going to be a big difference between finishing as the No. 3 seed in the East and finishing at the back of the pack and being stuck with a series against the Raptors or Cavaliers in the opening round.
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SCHEDULING
Both of these teams have a couple days off to get ready for this game, so scheduling shouldn't be much of a problem for either side.
If there is an issue, it's that Boston has been out on the West Coast for quite a while at this point. The Celtics were at Phoenix on Saturday and have been out West for the whole stretch and still have four more days until they can get back to Beantown.
INJURIES
Jae Crowder has missed eight straight games with a knee injury, but he figures to be back in the fold soon. Whether that means he'll be ready to start again versus Portland or not is up in the air, but if he does come back, even if it's only in a reserve role, it could be a huge boost for the C's.
The Trail Blazers are basically healthy at this point. Chris Kaman and Meyers Leonard are the only men on the injury report. Kaman should be back after sitting out on Monday with an illness. Leonard is out for the season with a shoulder injury.
KEY MATCHUP
The backcourt battle is going to be a good one in this game. The Celtics have a fantastic starting backcourt with Isaiah Thomas and Avery Bradley, but Portland's duo of C.J. McCollum and Damian Lillard are about as good as it gets.
McCollum and Lillard are both averaging over 20 points per game, though both men have been down just a bit of late. Lillard hasn't topped 18 points in his last three games, while McCollum has been held to 17 points or fewer in three of his last four.
Lillard also has turned the ball over a whopping 16 times in his last four games, and if he coughs it up this much in this one, Bradley in particular will take tremendous advantage.
Bradley isn't an elite level scorer, but he's fantastic defensively. He has averaged 2.1 steals per game in his last nine games.
Thomas is averaging 22.3 points per game, and he's topped the 20-point mark in every game since the start of March.
ANALYSIS AND ODDS PREDICTION
What's interesting about the Blazers though, is that they're playing reasonable basketball even without their superstars playing all that well. Sure, they were beaten by the Clippers, but that was a close game on the road, and it could've gone either way.
We expect to see the Celtics be a bit sluggish in this game after a couple days off on the West Coast. A motivated Portland side could come out of the blocks on fire after slugging out a couple close wins against the Sixers and the Kings, and if McCollum and Lillard step up their game again, it'll get a much-needed victory.
Portland 109, Boston 100
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