Boston at Portland
Time: 10 PM ET
Spread: POR -7.5
Total: 203
Betting odds c/o Bovada
The Boston Celtics initiated a free fall to the cellar when it deported Jeff Green to Memphis and brought nothing of immediate use back. But so go rebuilds.
The C’s, losers of eight of its past 10 contests, will host one of the best teams in the West tonight, and are 7.5 point underdogs to the Portland Trail Blazers.
For the Celtics, it is all about the youth. The team is being built on a core that involves Marcus Smart, Jared Sullinger and Kelly Olynyk. While Smart is likely the only of these three that manifests the look of “potential All-Star,” both Sully and Olynyk are good, floor-stretching big men that help an offense flow effectively. On the right team, either of these guys would be crucial rotation players. But the problem is that on Boston they are primary options. Even given this, the Celtics still rank 10th in the NBA in points per game, but the C’s defense has been atrocious, and ranks 26th.
The Celtics are not replete with options outside of the departed Green. Tyler Zeller will have to step up his scoring, and none of these guys are going to have the table set the same way for themselves since Boston got rid of Rajon Rondo about a month ago to acquire Jameer Nelson, who was subsequently dealt as well.
The Celtics are going to try to make a player out of Evan Turner so far, though no other team nor staff has been able to do it. The Celtics do jut out one of the most defensively pestering backcourts in the league with Smart and defensive stopper Avery Bradley, but it takes more than one small aspect to enhance the team to win more than 25 games or so, which is likely where this club will top out this season.
Portland sits 4.5 games behind the No. 1 seeded Golden State Warriors in the WC standings. But things have been a bit tough of late, as the Blazers have won five of its past 10 games (.500 doesn’t cut it for Terry Stotts). Defending the homecourt has been a strength of Portlands, though, having posted a 19-4 record at home this year.
Portland has one major thinking working against itself in this game, though: LaMarcus Aldridge is out. Aldridge has an injured left thumb and there is no time table on his return. The Blazers have already been without Robin Lopez for the last month-plus, so the frontcourt is going to have to compensate for a lot of missing production. Damian Lillard can make up for some of Aldridges’ missed scoring, but the interior Blazers players are going to have to crash the boards hard to make up for the loss in rebounding.
And clutch plays that ordinarily went to Aldridge on the baseline will likely be high/low pick and rolls between Lillard and Chris Kaman. Kaman, Joel Freeland and Meyers Leonard are all good 4/5-men, but Aldridge is a perennial All-Star and franchise player.
With Aldridge, it would have been reasonable to expect a 20 point blowout. The Blazers will still win, and Vegas oddsmakers are on point setting the line 7.5 points in favor of Portland because even without its premier player, the remainder of the roster still wildly outclasses what they have going in Beantown right now.
Things will get better for Celtics’ fans. Danny Ainge is stockpiling draft picks and clearing space under the salary cap, and Boston has traditionally been a storied franchise that players want to play for on the basis of name recognition alone. Celtics fans were lucky to get a title in 2008 when Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen joined Paul Pierce and a rookie Rajon Rondo in Boston, but it’s going to be at least another four or five years before this team is back to anywhere near contention. At this point, with the best player on the team being a rookie and two middling big men, it’s hard to expect a ton from the Celts.
