By Caleb Hersch
Posted at 8:15 pm, January 16

While this game adds one more to the loss total, the Portland Trail Blazers learned something very important tonight: they belong.

The Trail Blazers (23-15) gave the Boston Celtics (31-6) a run for their money but fell short, losing 100-90.

Brandon Roy led the Trail Blazers with 22 points and six assists. While the Trail Blazers fell to 1-2 so far on this seven-game road trip, they remain atop the Northwest Division.

Roy spoke of the Trail Blazers' mindset after the game.

"I think we came in tonight wanting to play well against them; I don’t think we believed that we could beat them," Roy said. "We’ve been playing to win lately, but tonight I think we just came in to give them a good game. The next time we play them we have to believe that we can actually beat them."

Travis Outlaw scored 17 points and grabbed seven rebounds as he played significant minutes off the bench. Jarrett Jack also scored 17 points and added five assists.

LaMarcus Aldridge had the hot hand early for the Trail Blazers. He finished with 16 points, six rebounds and two blocked shots before fouling out in the fourth quarter.

The Trail Blazers led by seven points in the third quarter, 52-45, after starting the second half with a 7-2 run. The Celtics managed to erase the deficit with seven points in just 88 seconds.

Jack's three-point-play with 56 seconds remaining drew the Trail Blazers within four points, but it was too little, too late.

Ray Allen led the Celtics with 35 points, including four makes from beyond the three-point line. Kevin Garnett scored 26 points and grabbed seven rebounds.

The Trail Blazers were able to slow down the Celtics' leading scorer, Paul Pierce. Pierce was well below his season average with just 12 points, but led the Celtics with eight rebounds and five assists.

The Celtics have won with defense this season, so this loss proves that the Trail Blazers are an extremely capable offensive team. Portland shot 46% from the field and hit 9-of-20 from beyond the arc.

The Trail Blazers' next game is in Miami on Friday. They will take on Dwayne Wade, Shaquille O'Neal and the Heat.

The game is at 4:00 p.m. PST and will be broadcast on CSN and ESPN. As always, the game can be heard on 750am KXL.

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