PORTLAND, Ore. — Damian Lillard had 19 points and 12 assists and the Portland Trail Blazers won their fourth straight game, beating the Boston Celtics 100-94 on Sunday night.
Jusuf Nurkic added 18 points and 17 rebounds for Portland. The Trail Blazers have won seven of their last eight.
Jayson Tatum matched his regular-season career high with 27 points and Kyrie Irving added 21 for the Celtics. They finished 1-4 on a five-game road trip.
The Blazers led by as many as 21 points, but the Celtics went on a 13-2 run to start the fourth quarter and pulled to within 85-83. Marcus Morris’ 3-pointer tied it at 86 with 7:27 left, but Lillard answered with a basket to put Portland back in front.
The Blazers held on to the lead, but Irving’s 3-pointer with 2:55 left closed the Celtics to 92-91. Al-Farouq Aminu answered with a 3-pointer for the Blazers, then made another key 3 that put Portland up 100-94 with a minute left.
Irving returned to the Celtics after missing Friday’s loss at Utah because he was at his grandfather’s funeral.
Celtics forward Daniel Theis, who sustained a plantar fascia tear on Oct. 27, played for five minutes and had two rebounds.
Lillard’s layup put the Blazers up 23-12 in the first quarter, and Portland led by as many as 12 points before the Celtics closed the gap to 28-26 on Terry Rozier’s floater. Boston’s momentum didn’t last long, and Meyers Leonard’s 3-pointer gave Portland a 40-31 lead midway through the second quarter.
Portland went into the break ahead 54-37, led by Nurkic with 14 points and 10 rebounds.
The Celtics made seven 3-pointers in the third quarter, including four in a row by Tatum, and got as close as 71-66 before another Portland run stretched the lead to 83-70 entering the final quarter.
The Celtics were coming off a 123-115 loss to the Jazz, which marked Gordon Hayward’s first trip back to Salt Lake City after going to Boston as a free agent in the summer of 2017.Portland was coming off a 116-105 victory over the Los Angeles Clippers on Thursday.
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