The Boston Celtics hosted the Houston Rockets Saturday night at TD Garden in their first game of a three-game homestand. The Celtics were on the second night of a back-to-back, whilst the traveling Rockets came into the game with two days off, and it showed all night as they led from start to finish. Kevin Durant turned in a vintage performance scoring 26 points on an efficient 8 for 11 from the field as the Rockets stomped the C’s 128-101.
Boston started the same five that played in Philly yesterday of White, Brown, Pritchard, Minott, and Queta. For Houston, dynamic young wing Amen Thomson started at the point, alongside Josh Okogie, with 6-foot-11 Turkish center Alperen Sengun, Kevin Durant, and Jabari Smith Jr.
The Western Conference The Houston Rockets were on a two-game winning streak coming into the game and scored the first 4 points of the game before Derrick White flashed along the baseline wing and nailed a pretty one-handed floater for Boston, dressed in their black uniforms. Queta was active early, running the court well as the bigman had 5 of Boston’s first 7 points. Houston, though, was red hot shooting the ball, as the road team hit on 7-9 from the field to take an early 18-12 lead.
Joe Mazulla praised the defensive instincts of the team’s youngest player pregame, and Hugo Gonzalez, the Spanish rookie, nailed his first shot of the game on a corner triple assisted by Jaylen Brown. Anfernee Simons hit a step-back rhythm triple to cut the Rocket lead to 4 points, 26-22, with 4 minutes to go in the quarter. Hugo’s eagerness to impact the game would see the rookie get three quick fouls.
The Celtics’ compressed schedule would mean the home team was playing its fifth game in just 7 nights, and the rested Rockets pushed the pace to lead the game, 37-24, at the break. Durant had 12 points at the first break as Houston shot a blistering 66% from the field and outrebounded Boston 15-7 to start the game.
Joe Mazzulla turned to Baylor Scheierman and Chris Boucher to start the second quarter as Boston would play 12 players in just 12 minutes as the Celtics coaching staff cycled through rotations to try and find a spark. Scheierman hit his first three-pointer, but Houston responded as Tari Eason hit his second three-pointer of the night to open up a 45-29 margin.
Jabari Smith Jr. hit his first triple of the night as Brown and Queta blew a defensive rebound attempt. Durant then hit back-to-back buckets as the Rockets had 53 points with six minutes to go in the quarter. A huge one-handed board and putback by Josh Minott woke up the home crowd and cut the lead to 12 points (53-41) before Ime Udoka called a timeout as the frenetic pace ramped up. Boucher and Minott brought the energy plays in the first half as they helped get Boston back within striking distance.
Kevin Durant was on fire in the first half shooting a near perfect 7 from 8 from the field as the veteran sniper had 20 first-half points. For the home team, Jaylen Brown led the team in scoring with 10 points and 5 dimes, Queta was solid with 9 points. Houston closed out the half with a dominant 18 point lead, 66-48.
The second half opened up sloppy as both teams registered turnovers before Josh Minott drove baseline and tried to posterize Jabari Smith Jr who denied him at the ring on his second athletic block of the night. Jordan Walsh would find the court early in the third quarter to be Boston’s thirteenth rotation player. The Celtic Wing was immediately taksed with defending future hall of famer Kevin Durant.
Joe Mazzulla was whistled for a technical foul three minutes into the quarter, then the C’s were whisteld for a defensive three second call, then Chris Boucher was judged for a horrible flopping tech as the boos rained down on the Refs in the third.
Payton Pritchard finally found the back of the net on consecutive plays as Boston were a dismal 3 from 12 from the field six minutes into the second half. Houston would go 20-23 from the free throw line compared to Boston’s 2-2 at the 5 and a half minute mark to go in the third quarter. Hauser’s second triple of the game cut the Houston lead to 20 points, 81-61. Baylor Scheierman scored 5 straight for Boston, but the road team continued to score at will and lead the game by 25 points after three, 97-72 with a quarter to go.
Hugo Gonzalez finally returned to the lineup in the fourth quarter and blocked a Tari Eason three-point attempt. Josh Minott hit his second three of the night and Ron Harper Jr saw the floor for Boston. For the raoad team, Reed Sheppard and Tari Eason converted on b2b triples as the Rockets stretched the lead to 33 points.
Former Celtic, JD Davison saw some time in his return to Boston as garbage time was alive and well to end the contest. Another former Celtic, Uncle Jeff Green saw action for his eleventh NBA team. Baylor Scheierman led the Celtics in scoring with 17 points on the contest, Payton Pritchard had 14 points and Brown finished with 12 points in 20 minutes of action.
The Boston Celtics next face the Utah Jazz on Monday night at 7:30pm eastern at TD Garden.
