Celtics saw their biggest weakness exposed by Rockets in frustrating loss

The Houston Rockets are not a fun team to play against (or even watch, I'd advocate). They focus on a reliable formula however that has produced plenty of success for themselves in the regular season at least for the past few seasons under Mike D'Antoni: Take 3s and get to the free-throw line.

No team in the NBA has done more of both this year than Houston, who is attempting 43.9 3-pointers per game while getting to the line a league-best 26.5 attempts per game. Discarding starting center Clint Capela in an effort to open up the lane more on the offensive end and ensure five 3-point shooting threats are on the floor at all times was a further commitment to this mentality since the trade deadline

The Celtics knew all this coming into Houston while riding an impressive seven-game winning streak that came to an abrupt halt in a 116-105 defeat.

“You gotta all guard in your system. You gotta be disciplined without fouling,” Brad Stevens told reporters before the game. “It's easier said than done. but at the end of the day, if Harden gets 40 or 50, and they get 105, that's a lot better than them getting 125. There's a balance, you just do your best to strike that balance.”

James Harden did get his 40 points (42 to be exact) and Russell Westbrook got 36 points of his own as the hosts erupted for 69 points in the second half after Boston’s defense held strong over the first 24 minutes. The problem? The C’s held up well in just one of those areas (Rockets only shot 28.9 percent from 3-point range) but lacked good discipline when it came to fouling.

Harden (18 FT attempts) and Westbrook (13 FT attempts) outshot the Celtics at the free-throw line (25 attempts) by themselves in the victory, leading Houston to a 42 free throw attempts on the night, the most by a C’s opponent this season. That was the second-most FT attempts the Rockets have had all year long, no small feat for a team that makes a living at the free-throw line.

While it’s easy to chalk this up as one bad night for Boston, the fact remains this has been a weakness for this team all year long. The Celtics rank in the bottom third of the league in free throws allowed per field goal attempt, easily the biggest trouble spot on the team from a statistical standpoint out of the four factors (shooting, rebounding, turnovers, free throws).

While Boston’s length helps them plenty, this young group lacks discipline at times to stay solid with their fundamentals. Four different players (Walker, Tatum, Brown, Smart) fouled jump shooters in this one, giving the Rockets not only easy points at the line but the ability to get their defense set on the other end of the floor.

“We weren’t as good as we needed to be,” Tatum told reporters in Houston. “It’s not easy being in that moment, knowing not to jump on a shot fake, but you do it. We just gotta be better."

Marcus Smart acknowledged that the 26 foul calls that went against Boston took its toll over the course of the night.

“The way the game is being called,” he said. “We didn’t know how physical we could be, because when we were physical we were being called, so it kind of made us hesitant and put us on our heels. Anytime you fearful of fouling, that’s kind of what happened.”

The Celtics didn’t have much margin for error in this one amid a poor shooting night for themselves but they clearly let frustration build up as the night went on for failing to produce the same whistle on the offensive end. For the first time in months, we saw Celtics give each other and officials constant grief on the floor in the midst of the action, which helped turn a close game midway through the fourth quarter into a comfortable win for Houston.

“I’m not a type of player to play with frustration anyway. I think that’s when I kind of have my worst games – when I am frustrated,” Walker told reporters after a 5-of-17 night. “So I’ve got to be more conscious of not letting things like that affect me. Especially me because I’m one of the leaders of this team. I’m one of the guys that these guys look at. So when I get frustrated, it kind of trickles down to everybody. Everybody starts to get frustrated. So I’ve got to be better with not showing my frustration as much as I did tonight.”

The loss won’t mean much in the big picture for a Celtics team that had won seven straight, but it does magnify the limited margin for error this group is going to have against elite teams this postseason. Two likely playoff opponents in Miami and Milwaukee rank in the top-6 in the NBA in free-throw attempts and the C’s are the second-worst playoff team right now (besides the .500 Grizzlies) in sending teams to the free throw lines.

To put it simply: Bad teams foul a lot and the Celtics are far too close for comfort to that 'bad team' group in this category. They didn’t get a friendly whistle in Houston but they can’t expect to get one either in the postseason going up against superstars like Giannis Antetokounmpo or Joel Embiid on the road. They need to be far better in this area during the second half of the season and that’s not an easy feat with their lack of size in the frontcourt. Better discipline should produce better results and ensure they don’t give away games at the free throw line like we saw on Tuesday night.