A free throw by Kenny Anderson set the final margin. We know we're becoming a good team. But to get the win in the fashion that we did is a major confidence-booster for the team. Right now, this is the biggest trip of the whole season. However we come out on this trip is going to determine if we go to the playoffs or not.
Every game just seems to get bigger and bigger.
But the importance of the win at the Rose Garden cannot be overstated because of the stature of the opponent and the scope of everything the Celtics are trying to accomplish. When the regular season ends, Boston could look back on its triumph in Portland as a turning point, a time when the players' conviction they could beat anybody in the league was matched by reality. We are under adverse conditions, and this team just seems to rise to the occasion. This is for real. Now the Jazz, Rockets, Mavericks, and Spurs will find out how real.