Porzingis dominant as Celtics hold off Rockets
Boston gets 116-107 win
Even though the Celtics easily handled the Rockets last Saturday with a 32-point blowout win last Saturday, Joe Mazzulla didn’t take a lot of stock in that victory.
Mazzulla described it as “fool’s gold.” He knew the Rockets had arrived in Boston late on a difficult road back-to-back. He knew the Celtics made 24 3-pointers that night. He expected the matchup to go much more like Sunday’s affair in Houston, where the Rockets used their strong defense to bother the Celtics, to make it a more physical, closer game.
Even though the Rockets were playing the second leg of another back-toback and were also shorthanded — without star guard Fred VanVleet — the Celtics indeed had more trouble on Sunday. Probably more than they should have. They struggled in the third quarter again. Jayson Tatum struggled again. But for Mazzulla, this was another game to demonstrate the growth and the different ways they can win games on nights they’re not playing at their best.
Kristaps Porzingis was dominant on both ends with 32 points, which included some big buckets down the stretch, and five blocks. The Celtics torched the Rockets on the offensive glass and had the critical edge in second-chance points. And on a night they were missing Al Horford and Jrue Holiday, Mazzulla loved how his bench stepped up again. It was harder than it should have been, but the Celtics held on for a 116-107 victory.
The Celtics did not particularly shoot the ball well, which included a 4-for-17 effort from Tatum. But they continuously fed Porzingis in mismatches, and he made the Rockets pay. The C’s dominated in secondchance points, 23-10, and though their offense waned in the second half, their defense stepped up when it mattered to close out this win.
“I think that’s the recipe and something that we took from last year is when we’re not shooting well, can we have a different switchattack?” Mazzulla told reporters in Houston. “Which is what Kristaps is able to bring us in the post and how do we fight for extra possessions, which is our offensive rebounding and our crashing. It’s something that we stress this year.”
Jaylen Brown also recorded his third career triple-double with 13 points, 11 rebounds and 10 assists as the Celtics, after Friday’s loss to the Nuggets, bounced back in another theme of their resilience. They’re now 9-1 this season following a loss, and haven’t dropped back-toback games since Nov. 6 and 8.
“We know that if we want to be a championship-caliber team, that we cannot lose multiple games in a row,” Porzingis told NBC Sports Boston’s Abby Chin.
They certainly did not make it easy on themselves. The Celtics controlled the first half behind their extra efforts on the glass and strong play from their bench as they built a 15-point halftime lead. But like they have too many times this season, they came out too flat in the third quarter. The Rockets cut their deficit to nine in the opening minutes, and though the Celtics responded with an 8-0 run to restore their lead to 17, they relaxed again.
The Celtics went on an offensive drought of over four minutes and the Rockets made them pay for it. Aaron Holiday’s 3-pointer capped a 14-2 run that sliced Boston’s lead to five. Missed baskets and lazy turnovers piled up for the Celtics and the Rockets took advantage in transition. Even after the Celtics built their lead back up to 11 early in the fourth quarter, Dillon Brooks led an 8-0 run that cut their lead down to three.
Though the C’s ultimately won, it served as a missed opportunity for their starters to get some extra rest ahead of Monday’s difficult back-to-back game in Dallas against the well-rested Mavericks, who haven’t played since Jan. 17, and their continued thirdquarter issues served as a reminder of a major problem that needs fixing before the playoffs.
But if there was a silver lining to those struggles, it was the impressive way the Celtics finished with their double-big lineup that included Luke Kornet. They led 93-90 with 8:22 left when Kornet came up with a big block of Brooks. Mazzulla called timeout, and the C’s regained their footing. Porzingis hit a turnaround jumper, and after another Kornet block, Payton Pritchard’s 3-pointer put the C’s back up eight.
The Rockets hung around, but the C’s ultimately buried them with a healthy diet of Porzingis. He made back-to-back shots for a 107-96 lead with 3:33 left. Holiday answered with a 3-pointer, and then Brown missed a pair of free throws. But they didn’t allow the Rockets to get closer. Kornet converted a tip-in before Porzingis’ fifth block with 2:01 remaining essentially wrapped the victory up.
Ime Udoka’s Rockets certainly bothered the Celtics offensively in the second half with their pressure and complicated switching defense. But Porzingis made the ultimate difference.
“The ability to play out of the post is I think something that we have to continue to develop for the long-term success of our team,” Mazzulla said. “And so, I thought he was great. I thought he stepped up tonight and played a great game.”