HOUSTON — Everything you need to know about the Rockets’ 123-120 win over the Celtics in quickie form.
Box score
HEADLINES
Instant classic: For the second time this season, the Celtics and Rockets teamed up to produce one of the most dramatic games of the year. The Celtics seemingly held control for most of this affair, thanks to some sensational offensive balance (seven players in double figures) and 3-point shooting (54.2 percent). However, the Rockets stayed within striking distance throughout the contest behind the scoring of Eric Gordon (game-high 29 points) and James Harden (26 points). Houston ultimately erased a six-point lead with four minutes remaining and closed the game out with a 22-13 run. “Those were two good teams playing and both teams deserve a lot of credit for how they played,” Brad Stevens explained. The Rockets have now won 15 straight games with the victory, while the Celtics had their four-game winning streak snapped.
Late game execution lacking for Celtics: Marcus Smart missed a turnaround prayer from the left wing as time expired, but the visitors should have never been in that situation, to begin with. Boston played some uncharacteristically sloppy basketball down the stretch of this contest, which was highlighted by disappointing efforts from two All-Stars. Kyrie Irving and Al Horford both missed open looks in the final four minutes of the game that could have made the difference. Additionally, they both turned the ball over in the final two minutes, surrendering critical chances to close out the game. Irving also couldn't intentionally miss a free throw to give the Celtics a chance to tie the game in the final ten seconds. On a night where the second unit built the lead for Boston, the stars uncharacteristically didn’t carry their weight.
The bench continues to shine:
Outside of the Celtics’ win against the Knicks last Saturday night, Boston’s bench continues to play sensational basketball since the All-Star break. Only four reserves played against Houston (Daniel Theis and Semi Ojeleye were DNP-CDs) but that unit combined with Jayson Tatum to beat up Houston’s reserves in both halves. Marcus Morris (team-high 21 points), Greg Monroe (18 points) and Terry Rozier (17 points) each played some of their best games of the year to keep pace with the high-powered Rockets offense. The second unit score more than half (69) of Boston’s 120 points.
TURNING POINT
Kyrie Irving
PJ Tucker
TWO UP
Terry Rozier:
The reserve guard finished with 17 points, marking his career-best 13
th
consecutive game with at least 10 points. Rozier is averaging 16 points per game during this current 13-game stretch. He’s also made multiple 3-point field goals in seven consecutive games, a career-high for the fourth-year guard. He’s up to 38.5 percent shooting from 3-point range on the year.
Greg Monroe:
One game after breaking out of his offensive slump, Monroe delivered one of his most efficient performances of the year. He abused Nene Hilario down low for most of the night to the tune of a season-high 18 points in a Celtic uniform on 6-of-9 shooting. He also grabbed six rebounds and was a team-high plus-23 in just 19 minutes.
TWO DOWN
Al Horford in the post:
Normally, getting the All-Star big man more involved in the offense is a good thing. However, it’s hard to deny that the 31-year-old is a bit of a funk. The team went to him early and often in the first half to try to take advantage of smaller post defenders but Horford missed at least three of those post up attempts despite getting some good looks. With the youngsters back on track and reserves playing some of their best games in weeks, it was unnecessary to turn to a slumping Horford in situations that weren’t high percentage looks. He finished the night with just 10 points on 4-of-12 shooting.
Kyrie Irving:
The point guard had been superb after the All-Star break, but he came back to earth in a big way on Saturday night. The Rockets ran Chris Paul and a host of other defenders at him all night, forcing him into missing 11 of his 17 shot attempts. He also committed three turnovers with some ill-advised passes, which produced easy buckets on the other end for the hosts. Defensively, the Rockets picked on him all night as well, despite the C’s attempts to guard him on wings. He didn’t do enough offensively to make up for those shortfalls.
INJURY REPORT
Marcus Smart banged knees with Nene in the fourth quarter and was forced to leave the game for a short stretch. “Knee to knee. Nene, was trying to screen, but just nicked my knee right underneath the pad. I’m sure everybody knows who’s been kneed before knows the pain. It’ll be all right,” Smart said after the game.
TOP PLAY
TWO TAKES B-ROBB WILL PROBABLY REGRET LATER
Brad Stevens is going to have tough decisions with his bench on a nightly basis moving forward:
With Monroe finally getting comfortable in green and other members of the second unit finding their strides, someone is going to have to sit on most nights. On Saturday, it was Theis and Ojeleye as the C’s went with a more offensively focused strategy. That paid dividends but Theis has played well enough this year to earn some time on most nights. If Horford continues to struggle with his offense, the C’s may be better off resting the big man some more and giving a fresh Theis a chance.
Another encouraging loss:
Both teams were well rested and motivated for this one and yet again the Celtics went toe-to-toe against the best team in the league. They are now 2-2 against the Warriors and Rockets this year, with all of those contests decided by five points or fewer. That’s an encouraging development for this group as all the parts are starting to mesh at the right time. Horford is slumping but the rest of this crew is playing well right now and they have shown they can play with anyone in the league on any given night. Once you put the uncharacteristic ugly late-game execution aside and look at the bigger picture, Stevens has to be pleased by this performance, since it indicated the strides the team has made since the All-Star break are real.
