C’s final bid falls short
Road win streak ends at four
HOUSTON — Jae Crowder likens the process of trying to reach while you guard James Harden to getting caught with your hand in the cookie jar.
But even with the Houston Rockets star scoring 18 of his 37 points from the free throw line last night, the Celtics were a missed Al Horford layup away from a win. The Celtics fell, 107-106, when Horford drove off the right side, laid the ball off the glass and watched in frustration as it bounced off the rim.
Horford grabbed his head in disbelief, and the Celtics dropped their first road game in the last five, although Houston occupies a different level from Miami, Minnesota, Brooklyn and even Detroit. Thanks to Harden, the Rockets are an already-good team on the rise. The Celtics, who beat teams like runnerup Golden State and champion Cleveland on the road last year, still need a nice road trophy win this season.
“It would have been great to grab this one tonight,” Isaiah Thomas said. “We had control of the game in the fourth quarter toward the end and then we made a few turnovers. They got to the foul line every time down, but we won’t talk about that, and they capitalized on our mistakes. But two layups, last two possessions, usually go down and they didn’t — and we lose the game.”
Thomas wasn’t only referring to Horford’s miss, but his own on the previous possession.
“We had our opportunities,” Horford said. “I mean I missed a couple of shots that I normally make down the stretch, and I felt like we had our opportunities and I didn’t execute as well as I wanted to toward the end tonight, so I take fault for that.”
The Celtics have most recently executed in these late-game situations, as evidenced by their finishes in wins over two lesser teams in Philadelphia and Sacramento.
This time, bad decisions came into play. In addition to his blown layup, Thomas threw the ball away on two straight possessions — a toss out of bounds that Harden converted into two free throws down the other end to cut the Celtics lead to 10098 with 3:50 left and what he termed a “miscommunication” with Jonas Jerebko.
At the wrong time in the set, Jerebko handed off to Thomas, and Patrick Beverly stripped the ball in the confusion. Beverly drove the floor for a 100-100 tie with 3:46 left.
Jae Crowder then missed a 3-point attempt, and Montrezl Harrell took the lead back for good for Houston with a dunk down the other end.
“Jonas thought it was a different play call than it was,” Thomas said. “In the heat of the battle I guess I’ve got to do a better job of making sure everybody knows what play we’re running. He had handed the ball back to me and the play wasn’t to him. That was one of the turnovers that were key. . . . But it’s not his fault. As a point guard I’ve got to do a better job of letting my guys know what play we’re running, and those little things especially on the road those make you lose the game.”
The Celtics led by six points with five minutes left, and then they started to unravel. Prior to a reverse layup from Avery Bradley for a 102-102 tie with three minutes left, the Rockets had run off eight straight points on their way to taking the lead for good.
It was the Celtics’ turn to come up short, starting with a long two-pointer from Bradley that wasn’t changed under video review.
Marcus Smart and Bradley caught Harden in a trap down the other end, and Harden swung an elbow aggressively enough to catch Smart in the jaw. Harden was assessed a flagrant-1 foul and Smart hit both free throws with 16.2 seconds left, cutting the Houston lead to 107-106.
But on the ensuing possession Thomas missed his open layup. The Celtics caught a break when the fight for the rebound was ruled out of bounds off Harden. The Celtics inbounded with 5.3 seconds left and Horford drove, but his shot went a little too hard off the glass.
“We still have a long ways to go. We have to keep working at it, but we can’t have those situations kill us at the end of the game,” coach Brad Stevens said. “Missed shots are OK, but miscommunication and turnovers we can’t have.”