Celtics 
Amen Thompson Maddie Meyer/Getty Images
January 28, 2025 | 6:00 AM
Amen Thompson shared a laugh with Dillon Brooks during his postgame interview on the TD Garden floor after he sank a floater in the closing seconds to seal Houston’s 114-112 victory over the Celtics on Monday.
The 21-year-old forward smiled as Brooks told him he knew the shot was going in. Thompson said he could feel it too, although he had never hit an NBA game-winner before. He brought up an old Celtics nemesis as he described how the triumph felt.
“It felt great. I knew it was going in off rip,” Thompson said. “That’s my first game-winner. I feel like Kobe.”
The comments came the day after the five-year anniversary of Kobe Bryant’s death, which occurred in a helicopter crash in January of 2020. The longtime Lakers superstar had many memorable moments against the Celtics during his career.
Thompson, who was a second-team all-rookie selection last year, has a long way to go before he can even be mentioned in the same breath as the five-time NBA champion Bryant, but his performance against the defending champions was impressive nonetheless.
AMEN THOMPSON WINS IT FOR THE ROCKETS IN THE FINAL SECONDS 🚨🚨
ROCKETS MOVE TO 12-3 WITH AMEN IN THE STARTING LINEUP THIS SEASON! pic.twitter.com/v77x2RHkV2
— NBA (@NBA) January 28, 2025
Thompson notched a 33-point, 10-rebound double-double while hounding Jayson Tatum on defense. Tatum finished with 19 points on 5-for-14 shooting in the loss. Tatum was held scoreless in the first half.
“It’s growth. (Thompson) is getting better and better with every game,” Houston’s Brooks said. “Figuring out what he can do every single game and he’s like a Swiss-army knife – you can put him anywhere and he can succeed. We love having him on our team and his growth every single game and his potential is up there.”
Thompson scored on the Celtics’ other superstar, Jaylen Brown, on his game-winner. He drove straight to the basket from the top of the key, sidestepped the sliding Brown as he made his way into the lane, and elevated for an uncontested look a few feet away from the rim.
“We had a foul to give the previous play,” Brown said. “So, we used the foul to give and after we saw what they were in, you knew they we’re probably going to try to get an iso. They were trying to go at Luke (Kornet).”
“I guess I should have sniffed it out earlier,” Brown said. “But, we tried to communicate the switch earlier to get Luke off of Thompson because he had it going and they were going to go to him and the timing was miscued and they scored at the end.”
Celtics coach Joe Mazzulla took blame for the final two plays of the game, a layup from Alprien Sengun and the Thompson floater, saying that he could have put his players in a better position to succeed. Both Kornet and Brown said the of their communication was off on the game-winner.
Thompson’s 33 points were a career-high. He’s fourth on the Rockets in scoring at 13.2 points per game. He wasn’t expecting to take the last shot, he said, but he he made the moment count.
“Nobody really said it,” Thompson said. “He just drew up the play and I was like, ‘oh shoot I’ll take this.”
The Celtics dropped to 32-15 with the loss, just one game in front of the third-place Knicks in the Eastern Conference standings. Boston has lost six of its last 12 games.
Although the Celtics have been struggling recently, they are still one of the teams that the Rockets use as a benchmark to measure their progress, Houston coach Udoka said before the game.
Houston has won nine of its last 11 games, including back-to-back wins over the first place Cavaliers before the victory against Boston.
“We feel great,” Thompson said. “We feel like we can beat anybody, and this road trip is really proving that.”
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