Final: Celtics 116, Rockets 107 - Porzingis bails Boston out in bad second half

BOSTON CELTICS at HOUSTON ROCKETS

7:00 p.m. - NBC Sports Boston

Line: Boston -12.5

INJURIES

Boston: Jrue Holiday (OUT, elbow), Al Horford (OUT, rest)

Houston: Fred VanVleet (OUT, back), Jabari Smith (OUT, ankle), Jeff Green (OUT, calf), Tari Eason (OUT, leg), Reggie Bullock (OUT, back)

NOTES

- Houston is coming off a one point win over the Utah Jazz in overtime last night 

LAST TIME

Celtics 145, Rockets 113 - January 13

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. 

THINGS I’M LOOKING FOR

1. Focus: Yes, Boston will be shorthanded, but the Rockets are a mess on top of coming off the OT on the back-to-back. I can see some level of playing with their food in this game. No game is going to be perfect, but let’s see the focus throughout this game to build a big lead and keep it.

2. Fast start: I want to see them come out strong on both ends. Yeah, they can put up 40 points, but if they do, I’d like to see a 20-25 point defensive quarter to go with it. They can’t get into the habit of JUST out-scoring teams.

3. Execution: This goes along with the focus element. What I don’t want to see is a bunch of half-assed half court plays. They buried a ton of 3-pointers against Houston the first time, so I'm a little afraid that a mid-January game against a team they just blew out with a bunch of 3-pointers will result in settling. I want to see them go through their progressions, move with and without the ball, and end this thing early. 

Follow along with my thoughts as the game goes on. They’ll show up below and in the comments section, so hop in and share your opinion as well.