The Celtics have had their way with most of the NBA in the last six weeks but the Houston Rockets have emerged as a worthy foil of late. The Rockets rallied from a 17-point first half deficit and escaped with a 111-110 win over the Celtics at the TD Garden after James Harden made a pair of game-winning free throws with 24 seconds remaining. Jaylen Brown (22 points) hit an incredible game-tying 3-pointer to force overtime but he couldn't knock down a midrange fadeaway with five seconds left in overtime, leaving the C's with their second loss to Houston in the past two weeks.
Russell Westbrook was the MVP of the night for Houston with 41 points and 8 rebounds while James Harden added 21 points and Robert Covington chipped in with 16 points and 16 rebounds. Jayson Tatum had a team-high 32 points for the hosts but shot just 33 percent from the field in the defeat, a common thread for the C's who shot just 39 percent from the fied.
WHO: Celtics (41-17) vs. Rockets (38-20)
WHEN: 8:30 p.m.
WHERE: TD Garden
RADIO: 98.5 The Sports Hub
TV: ABC
Celtics
PG: Marcus Smart
SG: Jaylen Brown
SF: Jayson Tatum
PF: Gordon Hayward
C: Daniel Theis
Rockets
G: Russell Westbrook
G: James Harden
F: Eric Gordon
F: Robert Covington
F: PJ Tucker
Pregame Notes
- Rob Williams is back in action for the first time after 37 games after he was cleared by team doctors following a prolonged recovery from a hip edema. Brad Stevens on his plan for him: "Probably not a lot of minutes. We’ll see how it goes, but we’ll bring him back ay the appropriate place."
- Kemba Walker remains out for the fifth straight game but will begin to ramp up activities and could be back in the lineup as soon as next week according to Brad Stevens. "Kemba worked out today. He shot. Been in the weight room now. He’ll play 3-on-3 tomorrow and then we’ll see if he’s cleared for practice Monday. If he’s cleared for practice Monday, they Tuesday’s in play," Stevens said.
- The Rockets have won five straight games overall and 10 of their last 13 since switching over to the smallball configuration for 48 minutes a game with PJ Tucker and Robert Covington playing center.
- Brad Stevens on the challenge of facing a smallball team that plays bigger than they are: "It is unique, because you hear all the small-ball talk. But I said yesterday, they’re only really small at one position; they’re huge at some. The difference is that the type of offense, obviously, where it’s very – you get a matchup, isolate, and they’ve got a couple of the best isolation players in the history of the game. And then, on the other end, literally switching everything and being physical in their switching. And they’re tough. When people come together, they just don’t point at it. They’re on you. They’re on your body. And so that’s just something that you’ve got to work toward and get used to. We do a lot of switching ourselves and so, we’ve played against that in practice a lot. And, you know, they’re hard to play against. I think they’re really good. Like really good. So it will be a fun challenge tonight."