BSJ Game Report: Five takeaways from the Celtics' loss to the Rockets

A look at five things we learned on Thursday night as the Rockets beat the Celtics 127-113 at the Toyota Center

Box Score

1. The Celtics actually did a decent job on James Harden until the fourth quarter: Harden has been playing out of his mind lately (averaging 35 ppg in December) and he picked up right where he left off on that front with 17 first-quarter points on Thursday night thanks a ton of contested stepback 3s he managed to knock down. Brad Stevens tends to lean towards playing 1-on-1 defense and living with the results and Harden took advantage of that strategy early on. Amazingly, there was a stretch in the middle two quarters in which the All-Star missed 10 straight shots as the C’s got up into his airspace more and did well to contest drives.

Still, the emerging MVP candidate found his rhythm late, both from beyond the arc and at the free throw line. He took all 17 of his free throw attempts in the second half as the C’s fouled him twice on 3-point attempts, giving Houston plenty of pivotal points (16 in the fourth quarter) to help them pull away late. All in all, it was another explosive performance by a guard against the Celtics this year. Marcus Smart has had plenty of success slowing down Harden in recent seasons but the Rockets forced so much switching he didn’t really get much of a chance to make an impact on that front tonight. The final line? 45 points, a career-high nine 3-pointers, 14-of-17 at the line and just a plus-3 overall. For as good as he was, he didn’t win this game by himself. His teammates were just as pivotal, which brings us to No. 2.

2. The Rockets bench wiped the floor with the Celtics bench: I’ll have a more in-depth column on this later but it’s worth addressing now. Boston’s second unit lost them the game tonight, pure and simple. The four-man unit of Theis/Rozier/Brown/Hayward played nine minutes together and had a net rating of minus-94 against the likes of Austin Rivers, Gerald Green and Nene. That’s purely unacceptable. Those Rockets reserve played well at home, but the Celtics second unit simply didn’t have a prayer of slowing down this group, which is pathetic when you consider how much of a talent edge they had. Daniel Theis was the main culprit tonight (minus-27) but Terry Rozier wasn’t far behind. Jaylen Brown and Gordon Hayward were solid on the offensive end but this group was a huge liability. They dug the C’s a huge hole in the first half and when the starters managed to tie it up in the third quarter, they gave it right back in the fourth quarter, pushing the lead back up to 15 before the starters returned to the game. Stevens likes to spread the minutes around but this was a night when it backfired on him. He gave this group too much rope.

3. A questionable choice by Brad Stevens: I’m a big fan of Theis. He’s been one of the best bench players on this team for most of the year, however he’s still a limited player. With Al Horford facing a minutes limit and Robert Williams (sore leg) a late scratch, the German center was going to see some big minutes. However, it was evident after a disastrous first half this was not his night.

Stevens seemed to recognize this at the end of the first half by giving Guerschon Yabusele a chance in four minutes. The C’s actually played solid with the second-year forward out there as Yabusele used his foot speed to contest shots well and handled switches admirably. He earned another shot in the second half it seemed like, or perhaps Semi Ojeleye deserved a chance at the center spot against a Rockets team that stretched the floor well. Instead, Stevens turned back to Theis again in the third quarter and Houston outscored the Rockets by 12 points during his stint. Again, it’s a tough situation with Aron Baynes out but it’s not like Stevens did not have alternatives. This was a night where he should have used them more.

4. An encouraging night for Al Horford: The entire starting lineup played well (outside of Jayson Tatum, who mustered just seven points in 29 minutes with some iffy shot selection), but the silver lining of the night comes from Horford, who easily had his best performance to date since returning from his knee injury. He warmed up as the game got going and finished with 15 points, four rebounds and four assists while showing off a nice touch around the rim (7-of-12 FG). The Celtics obviously played it cautiously with his knee condition and that strategy is starting to pay dividends as Horford is looking closer to an All-Star than the role player type contributions we had seen throughout November. Meanwhile, Kyrie Irving (23 points and 11 assists) and Marcus Morris (19 points) were terrific, but they just weren’t on the floor for enough minutes for it to matter. The Rockets played their top dogs 35-40 minutes, while Irving (36 minutes) was the only Celtic on the floor for more than 31 minutes. Boston wasn’t able to overcome that discrepancy.

5. Offensive rebounding remains a concern with Baynes out: The C’s did a nice job holding their own on the glass against the Sixers, but with the Rockets offensive scheme sending them into scramble mode, they were hopeless on the boards at the Toyota Center. Houston scored 18 second-chance points on 16 offensive rebounds, which helped the Rockets score the most points by a Celtics opponent all year. Clint Capela (nine offensive rebounds) was the chief contributor but the Rockets' wings chipped in bigs too, taking advantage of a C’s team that was ball watching instead of boxing out after switches. Horford and Theis combined for three defensive rebounds at the center spot over their 41 minutes and no one else is picking up the slack to cover up for that at other positions. This group needs to bring their hard hat and focus to the trenches every night right now and it’s clear that mentality wasn’t in place for this defeat.