After successfully defeating the Western Conference powerhouse Memphis Grizzlies, the Boston Celtics had no time to catch their breath. They rushed straight to Portland to begin their five-game road trip.
Their first opponent on the five-game road trip—the Portland Trail Blazers.
As another powerhouse in the Western Conference, the Portland Trail Blazers had been led brilliantly by their starting five of LaMarcus Aldridge, Nicolas Batum, Damian Lillard, Wesley Matthews, and Robin Lopez. So far this season, they had secured 9 wins and suffered only 3 losses.
Yet, facing such a formidable team, Celtics coach Jack remained remarkably calm.
He believed that as long as they could effectively contain the Trail Blazers' key players on both the perimeter and inside, winning this game would be as easy as taking something from a bag.
Thus, during the pregame tactical meeting, Coach Jack decisively chose to deploy heavy defensive attention against LaMarcus Aldridge and assigned the experienced, defensively elite Tony Allen to guard Damian Lillard one-on-one.
Although Tony Allen was already 32 years old and might struggle against freakishly athletic players like Russell Westbrook, he was more than capable when facing a player in Damian Lillard's mold.
Sure enough, under Coach Jack's carefully designed defensive scheme, both LaMarcus Aldridge and Damian Lillard found the game exceptionally difficult. They could never find comfortable shooting opportunities, and their overall form was clearly poor.
In the end, thanks to superb teamwork and efficient offense, the Boston Celtics comfortably defeated the Portland Trail Blazers 108:94, winning by 14 points without much trouble.
They earned their ninth win of the season, bringing their overall record to 9-4.
As soon as the postgame interviews ended, the Boston Celtics immediately boarded their charter flight to Chicago.
Clearly, they had no intention of staying in Portland for even a single night.