Everything you need to know about the Celtics’ 99-98 win over the Rockets in quickie form, with BSJ insight and analysis.
HEADLINES
What a rally: After playing their worst half of basketball of the season, the Celtics rallied from a 25-point deficit with 7:40 remaining in the second half — slowly but surely chipping away at the lead in the final 19-plus minutes of the game. They squandered multiple opportunities to take the lead in the final few minutes of the contest but Al Horford took advantage of an offensive foul by James Harden to score the game-winner. It was Boston’s first lead of the game, with three seconds remaining.
Improbable crunch time moments:
The one minute of crunch time featured roughly six potential game-changing plays. Horford hit the game-winner, but the comeback doesn’t happen if Marcus Smart doesn’t draw an offensive foul on Harden during an inbounds play with seven seconds remaining. He incredibly drew a second one after Horford’s game-winner, essentially sealing the win for the hosts in an unbelievable sequence.
Character-building win:
TURNING POINT
The Celtics were probably going to get a shot at the tie, trailing 98-97 with seven seconds remaining. However, Smart ensured they would get a shot at the win after drawing a charge on Harden as he attempted to gain position on an inbounds play.
TWO UP
Jayson Tatum:
The rookie scored 19 points in a career-high 40 minutes, and showed some impressive instincts throughout the second half as he tallied a career-best 11 free-throw attempts in the win. He also delivered a couple of pivotal defensive stops in the fourth-quarter comeback, including a block of a Harden jumper in a one-on-one isolation situation.
Terry Rozier:
The young guard played with great energy off the bench for the second straight night. He scored 11 of his 13 points in the second half on 4-of-5 shooting, including a team-high eight points in the fourth quarter. He also helped to wear the Rockets down, alongside Smart and Shane Larkin with tough full-court defense on Harden and the Rockets’ other ballhandlers.
TWO DOWN
Marcus Morris in the first half:
The Celtics looked like they might have been better off keeping Morris on the shelf with another ugly performance in the first half. He was 0 for 5 from the field in eight minutes and also had three turnovers during that stretch, putting together perhaps the ugliest individual stretch of basketball I’ve seen in the NBA for quite awhile. Luckily for the Celtics, he found his shot in the second half and contributed some big buckets to the comeback.
Two officials at NBA games:
The refs were pretty horrendous on both ends throughout this contest and that’s because third official Mark Lindsay was a late scratch with a sore back. Inconsistent calls were prevalent throughout the high-intensity matchup, causing Brad Stevens to earn a rare technical foul in the third quarter. It was a bad look for the NBA for a nationally televised affair.
TOP PLAYS
TWO TAKES B-ROBB WILL PROBABLY REGRET LATER
You can never count the Celtics out anymore:
The win was the team’s eighth win of the year in games they have trailed by 12 or more points. Leads disappear all the time in the NBA, but doing that over the course of just 39 games of a year means something. Outside of a pair of games (one of which Kyrie Irving missed) the Celtics have shown the ability to give themselves a chance at a win in almost any situation. That kind of resiliency bodes well for this squad as they gain additional firepower for the months to come.
This team will always need to beat elite opponents with its defense:
The Rockets may not have had Chris Paul or Clint Capela, but they are still one of the five best offenses in the league without those guys. The hosts somehow managed to limit that group to 19 percent shooting (6-of-31) in the final 19:40 of this game, producing one of the biggest comebacks the NBA has seen this year. With Smart leading the charge, Stevens used a variety of pressure defenders (Rozier, Larkin) to make life miserable for the Rockets in the second half. As small ball takes over the league more and more, the Celtics are well equipped to slow teams down that go that route.
