Final: Rockets 128, Celtics 101 - Houston dominates from start to finish

BOSTON CELTICS vs HOUSTON ROCKETS

Regular season game 7

TD Garden, 8:00 p.m. - NBC Sports Boston 

INJURIES

Boston: Jayson Tatum (OUT-Achilles), Payton Pritchard (PROBABLE-ankle), Derrick White (PROBABLE-neck)

Houston: Dorian Finney-Smith (OUT-ankle), Fred VanVleet (OUT-knee)

OFFICIALS

James Williams (#60)    JB DeRosa (#14)    Tyler Ricks (#95)

THINGS I’M LOOKING FOR

1. Fatigue: This is a back-to-back, third game in four nights, and sixth game in nine nights. They just played a very tough game that came down to the wire, and the Houston Rockets are very big, physical team. I’m watching the legs on these guys to see if jumpers fall short. 

Typically, a team in this spot can get out to a hot start, fade, and never get it back. Let’s see if Boston’s depth and fresh legs on lower-minute guys (or a DNP like Chris Boucher) can carry them through. 

2. Steven Adams: He’s big, he’s burly, and he’s the best offensive rebounder in the league. Boston has been rebounding better, but Adams is a different beast. I’m curious to see if the Celtics have anything special planned for Adams or if Joe Mazzulla will just let these guys figure it out. 

I’ll lump in the overall rebounding here as well because the Rockets starting lineup is 6-4, 6-7, 6-10, 6-11, and 6-11. They are a bunch of super athletic trees that will be tough to keep off the boards. I know Boston seems to be rebounding better, but they also have had advantageous matchups in that regard. The Pelicans didn’t have the personnel, the Cavs don’t crash hard despite their size, and Philly was missing Dominick Barlow, who had five offensive rebounds in their first matchup against Boston. 

The Rockets currently rebound 42.9% of their misses. For all of Boston’s recent success, they are still prone to giving up offensive rebounds. They're going to have to find a way to minimize that while crashing hard themselves to make up for the difference. 

3. Josh Minott vs. Kevin Durant: I assume this will be the starting matchup. They are similarly built, so it looks like it will be a fun matchup. It’s obviously Minott’s biggest test of the season so far, so let’s see how he does. 

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.