It would have been completely understandable if the Portland Trail Blazers, playing their seventh road game in 15 days, had laid down for the Boston Celtics on Sunday.

Instead, the Blazers showed up with energy, played hard, and hung around for a little more than three quarters but ultimately fell to the best team in basketball 124-107.

The Blazers were led with 28 points and nine assists off the bench from Dalano Banton, who returned to Boston to face the team that traded him to Portland for a future second-round pick at the trade deadline.

Deandre Ayton scored 22 points with 14 rebounds and Scoot Henderson had 15 points with eight assists.

Despite their numbers, the Blazers shot just 39.2% from the field. Henderson went 3 of 13. Portland shot well from three-point range (36.8%) and dominated in the rebounding department, 53-40.

In fact, the Blazers’ 22 offensive rebounds kept them in the game, especially in the first half. The Blazers’ 16 first-half offensive boards resulted in 14 second-chance points which helped them overcome poor shooting. Overall, the Blazers had 21 second-chance points compared to seven for Boston.

In reality, the Celtics didn’t need second-chance points while shooting 56.3% from the field and 16 of 38 on threes (42.1%).

Jaylen Brown led Boston with 26 points and former Oregon Ducks star Payton Pritchard came off the bench to score 20 with eight assists.

The Blazers trailed by as much as 14 in the third quarter before drawing to within 85-81 with 1:57 on the clock when Jabari Walker, who scored 14 points with 18 rebounds, made two free throws.

The Celtics, however, pushed their lead back to 93-85 heading into the fourth quarter. There, Boston threw down the hammer by driving its lead to 112-94 with about six minutes to go.

WHAT IT MEANS

The Blazers (21-57) finish their trip at 2-5. Not bad all things considered. The fact that the Blazers went 2-2 after getting blowout 142-82 at Miami on Mar. 29 was certainly a sign of growth from a young lineup. Playing without Jayson Tatum, Boston entered the game with the top seed in the Eastern Conference playoffs already sewn up.

NEXT UP

The Blazers return home to host the New Orleans Pelicans at 7 p.m. Tuesday.