National Basketball Association

Trail Blazers look to Sweep Season Series Against Celtics

Updated Mar. 5, 2020 12:11 a.m. ET

Fansided, Isaiah Delos Santos/FanSided via Rip City Project

Portland looks to turn momentum from Tuesday’s buzzer-beating win into another victory over the Boston Celtics

Their last match up was an OT thriller that the Trail Blazers won 127-123. This second time around poses new questions for the Blazers to sort out:

Whose time is it?

CJ McCollum and Damian Lillard have both taken their respective clutch shots this season.

Lillard sunk a last-second floater in OT against the Denver Nuggets to seal a comeback win in October.

McCollum not only had Tuesday’s game-winner, but hit two clutch threes against the Detroit Pistons to force two overtimes in early January.

The two could co-exist as a dual-threat in crunch time, deferring to whoever has the touch going.

Both players will take the win over fighting over who gets the last shot, and wins are really what this team needs. But, with Isaiah Thomas seemingly taking a page from Lillard’s book by copying his wrist-tap celebration, maybe he’ll want the shot should this game come down to that.

Who will step up with Evan Turner out?

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Evan Turner just suffered a fractured hand, and will subsequently be out for 1-2 months. He was a key to a revamped Blazers lineup that seemed to be working. In the previous game against the Celtics he played 40 minutes—second most—and registered 12 points, 4 rebounds, 4 assists.

Al-Farouq Aminu will be looked at to step up his numbers as he is most likely inserted back into the lineup. Or, The Blazers could get creative, and unleash Jake Layman on the league.

The first game post-Turner injury will set the the blueprint for the next 1-2 months, and it could be a huge learning curve as the Blazers work out yet another new lineup.