NBA: Celtics never trail in triumph over Trail Blazers

Payton Pritchard scored a game-high 23 points and Jaylen Brown finished with 20 to lead the Boston Celtics to a 102-94 victory over the visiting Portland Trail Blazers on Monday night.

Pritchard made 5 of 11 3-point attempts and also grabbed four rebounds. Brown had eight rebounds, five assists and four steals.

Boston's Derrick White added 18 points, but committed eight turnovers.

Jerami Grant (19) and Toumani Camara (18) were Portland's leading scorers. Portland also received nine points and 15 rebounds from Donovan Clingan, and 14 points from Jrue Holiday.

The Trail Blazers played without leading scorer Deni Avdija, who missed his second straight game with a lower back strain. Avdija is averaging 26.0 points and 6.9 assists per game.

It was the start of a four-game road trip for Boston, which never trailed in the game.

The Celtics didn't have center Luka Garza (illness).

Boston scored the game's first eight points and led 29-9 with 1:33 left in the first quarter. The Celtics had a 32-11 lead after 12 minutes. Portland shot 4 of 21 from the field in the opening quarter, including 1 of 12 from 3-point territory.

The Trail Blazers cut their deficit to 11 points multiple times in the second quarter, but trailed 52-37 at halftime.

A Caleb Love layup whittled Boston's advantage to 10 points with 4:01 left in the third quarter. Portland got as close as eight in the third, but trailed 75-65 entering the final quarter.

The Trail Blazers trailed 99-94 after a pair of Camara free throws capped an 8-0 run with 41.5 seconds to play, but never got any closer.

Portland missed 30 of its 40 3-point attempts, and 10 of its 30 free-throw attempts.

It was the second meeting between the teams this season. The Trail Blazers defeated the Celtics 114-108 in Portland on Dec. 28.

--Field Level Media/Reuters