Way back in November, the Rockets delivered a bit of a wakeup call to Boston. After the Celtics started 0-3, they won three straight against New Orleans, Cleveland, and Philadelphia and had started to figure out what their identity was going to be. Houston had other ideas and beat down Boston in a 28-point blowout at TD Garden with Kevin Durant scoring 26 points to lead seven Rockets in double figures with a 19-of-29 barrage from behind the arc.
Three months later with both teams now fully realized and jockeying for playoff seeding with nearly identical records, it was the Celtics with the proof-of-concept 114-93 win over the Rockets.
On the second night of the back-to-back, the Celtics were without Sam Hauser (right thumb strain) and Jaylen Brown (left hamstring tightness and right knee soreness), so head coach Joe Mazzulla started Derrick White, Baylor Scheierman, and Neemias Queta with Luka Garza and two-way and Rising Stars Challenger Ron Harper Jr. Anfernee Simons and Chris Boucher were unavailable for “personal reasons.”
Despite the absences, Boston broke the game open in the second half with a flurry of threes (7-of-14) in the third and 14 points from DWhite. Former Celtics head coach Ime Udoka was ejected before the final frame.
The Rockets start arguably the biggest starting five in the league and naturally, are the best offensive rebounding team in the league. That could explain Mazzulla opting to start double bigs with Queta and Garza. It worked. Boston grabbed 65 rebounds, their highest total of the year. Neemias Queta alone snatched 19 with seven on the offensive glass. Ultimately, it was the Celtics that won the rebounding battle, outscoring the Rockets 27-15 in second chance points.
In his second straight game coming off the bench, Pritchard, the defending Sixth Man of the Year, scored 27 points with seven assists. White led all scorers with 28 and eight dimes. And in a big club tryout of sorts, Ron Harper Jr. was fire, hitting 3-of-6, defending Durant, and making big plays all over the court with nine rebounds and three assists.
The team returns home for a three-game homestand before All-Star Weekend. They’ll host the Miami Heat on Friday, the New York Knicks on Super Bowl Sunday, and the Chicago Bulls on Tuesday.
