BSJ Game Report: Celtics 145, Rockets 113 - Boston buries Houston under a 3-point barrage to stay perfect at home

Everything you need to know about the Celtics win over the Rockets with BSJ analysis and insight

IN A NUTSHELL

Kristaps Porzingis paced a 35-point first quarter, but the Celtics defense gave up 12 points in the paint and only led by four after one. Jayson Tatum dropped 15 in the second as Boston extended the lead to 11 at half. Jaylen Brown went off for 21 third-quarter points on 7-10 shooting to make it a 26-point lead after three. Tatum got himself ejected early in the fourth, but it didn’t matter. 

Box Score

HEADLINES

- Steady march: The Rockets are a scrappy team playing above their heads a little this season. The Celtics are championship material. This game played out exactly like a game between those two types of teams should, with the better team slowly and steadily increasing the lead over the course of the game. 

- Big-time answer: Just in case anyone was wondering if the Milwaukee game was a one-off, the Celtics delivered their bounceback statement. 

- Hot shooting: Boston finished the game shooting 51.1% from 3, their third game this season shooting better than 50% from 3 and just a few ticks off their best shooting night of the year so far (57.1% in the early season blowout of Indiana). They're now 15-1 when they shoot better than 40% from 3 (3-0 at 50%-plus).

TURNING POINT 

Boston went on an 18-8 run to close the second quarter, turning a one-point lead into an 11-point lead. They then opened on a 6-0 run to extend the overall stretch to 24-8. It was basically elementary from there. 

THINGS I LIKED

- The shooting: Who doesn’t like shots falling? Boston outscored Houston 72-21 from the 3-point line. The shooting is almost exclusively the reason for the win.

- The Jays: A very efficient 59 points on 29 shots, again, mostly because eight of the 20 shots they hit were 3-point shots. 

- Second-half defense: The Rockets were held to just 19-53 shooting in the second half, 9-26 in the third quarter before garbage time.a

“I think giving up a 31-point first quarter allows a team to hang around, and then 25-point (allowed) quarters are really hard,” Joe Mazzulla said. “You got a 49-percent chance if you get one, 68 percent if you get two. Like, 27s are decent. I look at the 27, 28, 27, and that’s the difference.”

- Derrick White and Kristaps Porzingis hitting 3-pointers: They have each been struggling. They each went 3-5 from 3 tonight. 

THINGS I DIDN’T LIKE

- Points in the paint: Well, let’s do the math. If Boston outscored Houston by 51 from the 3-point line, Houston outscored Boston by 19 from everywhere else. Seven of that was from the line, and 12 of that was from 2. The Celtics allowed 54 points in the paint overall, which is less than ideal. 

- The margins: Boston won the overall battle, and they did some good things, but we can’t gloss over the margins that Mazzulla loves to point to after wins. Houston took more shots, more free throws, and got more offensive rebounds.

“I think it gives us space to know we can get better,” Mazzulla said. “That's a good win, but we’ve got to live in the space that we can get better. And it's not that anything's wrong, it doesn't need to be a big deal. But if we can live in the space of ‘We’re good team, but it's not good enough,’ I think that’s a healthy place to be and I think that's how we can grow.”

HIGHLIGHTS

ONE TAKE KARALIS WILL PROBABLY REGRET LATER

- The mixed, somewhat muted reaction to Ime Udoka shows Celtics fans have moved on. 

I wasn’t sure what to expect when Udoka was introduced, and to be honest, it was anticlimactic at best. 

A few people cheered. A few people booed. There was nothing emphatic either way. 

People have moved on. 

That's a testament to Boston being good right now. Fans pretty clearly don’t harbor any unanimous feelings against Udoka either way because they're pretty engrossed in what has been a phenomenal season so far. If the Celtics had been struggling at all, then the reaction in this game might have been different. 

But the Celtics are good. Really good. And even some of the biggest Mazzulla critics are beginning to soften at least a little bit (ok, not all of them, but a lot of them). 

I’ve heard other coaches get bigger reactions than Udoka. No one seems to care much anymore. 

Next up: The Celtics head back out on the road to face the Toronto Raptors on Friday night