POST GAME HOUSTON - AWAY

Celtics Wrap: Boston Cruises To Commanding Win Vs. Rockets

Jaylen Brown (24), Jayson Tatum (23) helped Boston get to 20-18 on the season


NESN by Sean T. McGuire

It wasn’t the most ideal start, but the Boston Celtics responded to play a dominant three quarters in claiming a 134-107 victory over the Houston Rockets on Sunday.

Jaylen Brown led Boston with a team-high 24 points on 9-for-14 from the field while Jayson Tatum complemented the effort with 23 points of his own on 9-for-17 from the floor.

Perhaps the biggest difference, though, was the Celtics bench who received a first-quarter spark from Marcus Smart, Semi Ojeleye and Robert Williams that Boston rode throughout the contest. The trio was crucial in changing the flow of the game, as they helped Boston’s bench out-score that of the Rockets 25-6 in the first half.

Williams finished with a double-double of 16 points and 13 rebounds, Ojeleye shot 50 percent from long range en route to nine points while Smart scored five points with three assists in 19 minutes. Kemba Walker scored 16 points on 11 shots, as well.

The Celtics improve to 20-18 on the season while the Rockets fell to 11-25.

Here’s how it went down:

STARTING FIVE
PG: Kemba Walker
SG: Jaylen Brown
SF: Jayson Tatum
PF: Tristan Thompson
C: Daniel Theis

SLOW START
The Celtics came out slow, playing down to a worse team as they have many times this season, but Boston closed the quarter on a run to take a 38-34 lead after the first.

Houston had taken a 28-20 lead with 4:45 left in the quarter before Boston went on a 16-4 run over the next four minutes to answer and take momentum into the second.

Tatum led the way for the Celtics, scoring 12 first-quarter points.

Boston really turned it around, though, with Marcus Smart, Semi Ojeleye and Robert Williams coming off the bench.

Ojeleye scored six points on two 3-pointers while Williams (six points) hit each of his three shots from the field and Smart chipped in five. All made contributions during Boston’s run, too.

Boston shot 62 percent (13-for-21) in the quarter while making five of their eight 3-point attempts. Houston shot 52 percent (12-for-23).

Kevin Porter Jr. led the Rockets with 11 points.

The Celtics scored the first six points of the second quarter and put on a noteworthy run at the onset of the period to earn a 66-53 lead heading into the half.

Boston used a 16-2 scoring stretch to take a 18-point lead midway through the period. The C’s built that advantage to as much as 19, 64-45, with 3:30 left before Houston ended the quarter on a run of their own.

Jaylen Brown took over in the second quarter, scoring 16 of his 21 first-half points during the period.

The Celtics’ bench out-scored the Rockets 25-6 in the first half with Ojeleye (nine) and Williams (eight points on 4-for-4 shooting) leading the way. Tatum, however, entered the half with the 12 points he scored in the first.

Boston finished the half shooting 52 percent (25-for-48) and 8-for-19 from long range. The C’s assisted on 13 of those 25 made baskets.

Houston shot 38 percent (18-for-47) in the first half while Victor Oladipo led the way with 17 first-half points.

PULLING AWAY
The Celtics continued to put themselves in complete control during the third quarter, extending the lead to 104-72, entering the fourth.

Tatum scored 11 points in the quarter including a buzzer-beating 3-pointer to bring his total to 23. Brown scored three points in the period, which brought his total to 24.

Walker scored 11 third-quarter points, and did so on both ends.

Robert Williams was equally impactful on the both ends as he went into the fourth with a double-double of 16 points and 13 rebounds.

NEVER IN DOUBT
The Celtics emptied the bench with nine minutes left in the game and still kept their foot on the gas. Payton Pritchard scored nine points in the final 12 minutes while Carsen Edwards chipped in six.

Some end of game stats: Boston shots 55 percent (51-for-92) from the floor and 9 percent from long range (18-for-37). The Celtics assisted on 29 of those 51 made baskets.

Houston shot a brutal 39 percent (35-for-91) from the field and 32 percent from 3-point range).

UP NEXT
The Celtics will return to TD Garden on Tuesday to host the Utah Jazz.

I thought over the past half of a season we looked bad in stretches, but clearly Houston is the worst team in the league by far. I'll try to keep my complaints about the Celtics in perspective going forward. But that will happen when you have both Ball Hog and Westbrick check out around the same time and bring in the never present John Wall and now injury prone VO.

Well, it was a dominating victory and one the "New Look" Celtics needed regardless. The final score was not indicative of how close this one was. I don't know if there is anything we can glean from this one expect it was a victory. It could be seen possibly as momentum going into Tuesday's game. We're going to need it there. Again, another loss or moral victory Tuesday to a top rated team isn't going to get it done. You can't move up in the standings where all three teams above you are winning and steamrolling all time. A long sustained streak or near streak(s) is/are what's needed.

We still look crappy at times just throwing possessions away but overall a good game. Still don't understand that. JB showed up to put any rumors or his demise to rest. Everybody got a trophy.

db

Everything you should not do, that Houston franchise has done, gave way too much power to D’antoni who got rid of Capella, who is still a young beast. Anyone know what they got for Capella or Harden? How do you agree to accept Wall, he got outplayed by IT last time he was healthy and in a meaningful moment, is never healthy...??? They have no center, no wings and 2 injured guards, one can’t get on the floor, the other is just out for the money and wants to leave. This franchise is everything that’s wrong with the NBA and the system.

No John Wall, no Christian Wood.  In fact, they didn't even have a front court to speak of, so we shouldn't make too much of this win but a win is a win is a win.

Everybody looked good because of the above, it's virtually gratuitous to go through each of them, but there were a few notable contributions.

We started off slow and they got up on us.  Jaylen was disengaged on both ends, Kemba couldn't hit the broad side of a barn.  Then we pulled our heads out of our asses, realized they couldn't score if it wasn't from 3 because they had no front court, and took a 4 point lead after 1.  We won the 2nd quarter by 10, so we were up 14 at the half.  But it was Kemba coming out and scoring the first 11 points of the 3rd quarter to completely put this game out of reach for them.  Overall, not a great boxscore, 16 points on 4-11 but those points to start the 3rd were 11 coffin nails.

Jaylen had 5 minutes of nothing, both ends.  Like I said, "disengaged".  Then he woke up and went nuts.  He ended up with 24 points on 9-14.  He had 5 points on 1-2 after 1, 3-4 from the line for the rest of his points, but he had 21 at halftime on 8-12.  That's 7-10 2nd quarter, when he was just throwing up some really hard shots, some with real rainmaking arcs and they went in.  Most of us saw the game live last night, but I still recommend you watch this highlight film, it's only 2 minutes long, and see how they had no idea what or how to deal with Jaylen.  He had them spinning like tops out there.  I watched the game last night, I was on the Game On! thread talking about him real time and I just re-watched this film.  



Jayson makes every jump shot harder than it has to be.  They all have to be turnaround fadeaway, wrong legged, you-name-its.  A good night for him, just like everybody else, but you have to wonder how he'd be even better if he made life easier for himself.

Theis only played 6 minutes but Thompson and Williams had field days.  Thompson was a monster on the offensive glass and The Time Lord was a plain monster.  He stat line is absolutely off the charts.  16 points on 7-7, 13 rebounds and 3 blocks in just 19 minutes.  The best part about RWill is that he is much more consistent game-to-game than he used to be.  This was an awesome performance but he's been coming in and doing well for weeks now.  Last year he was like a box of chocolates.  Not so much this year.



Semi killed them on both ends.  Nice game for him.  I think it's a combination of Brad really knowing where Semi can make a difference in match ups and Semi finally knowing what he needs to focus on to get on the court and just not think about it.  He knows he can do it, he's been doing it for 4 years now, thought should no longer be necessary and I think that has liberated him a bit.

Nobody has been more vocal than I in Tacko's need to always keep the ball up above his head, so that smaller defenders, which would be everybody in the league except perhaps Boban, can't swipe at the ball.  Last night the problems was that everybody was passing the ball to Tacko's knees, so he had to go down to get it and that created the situation that drives me crazy.

https://www.espn.com/nba/boxscore?gameId=401307382


Bob


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bobh,

Ditto on Tacko. My wife was asking me who I was screaming at!!

db

Tacko at this point is just taking up space, he’s way too slow at this level. Nice story, but no results....

Every win is good even against a team destined to lose their 16th straight game.

Is it a barometer?  No but the Celtics do look different with Marcus on the floor.

Brad went back to Semi in what has turned into a pattern of not playing a game or two and then playing a game or two.  Brad does not want Grant Williams to get stale however both guys are PF.  Last night I saw a rare pass where semi was at the circle right side and  lobbed the ball over the defender to Robert Williams.  Robert is a bucket just waiting to happen.  

Reps are so vitally important for young guys to get better and that is exactly what we are seeing from Robert Williams.  He definitely gives us a low post option and is getting better as a true rim protector.


Looking up at the standings this AM, Boston is in 5th place.  Only winning at a much higher rate can change the inevitability of a lost season.  We are 10 days out from the trade deadline.  

Next up is the Utah Jazz.  A win at home against them is a good time to start climbing in the standings.

cowens/oldschool wrote:Tacko at this point is just taking up space, he’s way too slow at this level. Nice story, but no results....

Maybe Danny can move him to Brazil.

Tacko Fall is slow, awkward and clumsy. He is super tall and super long but he can't jump. He rarely plays and if there was a glimmer of light I have not seen it. He is a 2-way player but has little to no chance of making it as an everyday NBA player. He does not effect our roster. He is a project that we check on from time to time to see how it is going. Not have G league games hurts his progress.

dboss wrote:

cowens/oldschool wrote:Tacko at this point is just taking up space, he’s way too slow at this level. Nice story, but no results....

Maybe Danny can move him to Brazil.

Tacko Fall is slow, awkward and clumsy.  He is super tall and super long but he can't jump.  He rarely plays and if there was a glimmer of light I have not seen it.  He is a 2-way player but has little to no chance of making it as an everyday NBA player.  He does not effect our roster.  He is a project that we check on from time to time to see how it is going.   Not have G league games hurts his progress.

He’s a wasted signing, sure he’s a likable guy, but don’t see any upside coming soon at all. Last night he was struggling to just catch the ball, he’s got no defensive presence, too slow....

Williams is an underappreciated passer.  A great give-and-go from Smart to RWill and back to Smart, but look at the traffic RWill was looking at until Smart broke through it and cut to the rim. And The Time Lord was ready when he did.


https://twitter.com/i/status/1371489748041265153


Bob


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Tacko does not play because you have a jerk of a coach that will not player a player to see what he has under the hood. It is not fair to judge Tacko when he has had no ability to gain a feel and rhythm that all players need to demonstrate their real skills.

112288

112288 wrote:Tacko does not play because you have a jerk of a coach that will not player a player to see what he has under the hood.  It is not fair to judge Tacko when he has had no ability to gain a feel and rhythm that all players need to demonstrate their real skills.

112288

112288

I do not know about that.

I really doubt that Tacko is an NBA quality center. The guy barely jumps 3 inches from the floor. Tacko will only get time to play if we have blowouts and those have been rare. It is however quite true that guys have to play to get better and show their skills.

There is simply not enough minutes available for Tacko.

dBoss,

At 7'6" he does not need to jump that much to score or alter shots on defense!

112288

112288 wrote:dBoss,

At 7'6" he does not need to jump that much to score or alter shots on defense!

112288

I wish he could defend, in limited time against other end of bench players, guys blow right past him or so easily go to open spots that he is too slow to get to, then as soon as he may get there, they blow right by him to the rim. Obviously if a big tries to go over him at the rim he can defend that, but he’s way too slow and stiff for this level.