In the second quarter of the Celtics’ game against the Rockets on Monday, Kristaps Porzingis missed inside, grabbed his own rebound, and threw down a loud dunk. Afterward, he stomped toward his defender, Dillon Brooks, and gave him a bump, resulting in a technical foul.
Brooks is known as one of the game’s biggest pests and a very good defender, but he is hardly known as an offensive weapon. But in this game he pulverized the Celtics from beyond the arc.
The Rockets guard smashed his career high by hitting 10 of 15 3-pointers and scoring 36 points, and the Rockets stunned the Celtics, 114-112, when Amen Thompson hit a shot in the lane with 0.7 seconds left.
Thompson finished with a career-high 33 points for Houston, which overcame a pair of double-digit deficits, including a 12-point hole with less than nine minutes left in the game.
Jaylen Brown had 28 points for the Celtics and Jayson Tatum finished with 19 after a scoreless opening half. Derrick White (shin) and Sam Hauser (hip) were both ruled out about an hour before tipoff. Al Horford (toe) was activated after being listed as questionable. But the Celtics big man was pulled from the starting lineup at the last minute, and although he was in uniform and the Celtics said he was available, he did not play.
Payton Pritchard hit two 3-pointers over the first three minutes of the fourth to improve to 5 for 5, and Luke Kornet converted a follow slam to stretch the lead to 101-89. But Brooks did not cool off. His 3-pointer with 8:23 left ignited a 13-0 run that was capped by a pair of Thompson baskets inside.
The Rockets trailed by 1 when a Brooks 3-pointer with 1:39 left put them back in front, 108-106. The teams mostly traded baskets and free throws after that, with a pair of Brown foul shots with 11.8 seconds left tying the score at 110.
But after a timeout the Celtics had a communication breakdown that allowed Alperen Sengun to slide to the rim for a dunk on a backdoor cut. Tatum answered with a quick layup with 5.3 seconds left.
But Thompson then found space in the lane and converted a runner with 0.7 seconds left, and Pritchard’s desperation heave was not close.
Despite the three significant absences, Boston still had its three most dangerous scorers. And Porzingis and Brown gave the team an early jolt at the start by going 6 for 6 from the field.
Brooks helped Houston withstand that early burst by hitting his first three 3-pointers, however.
With the Celtics holding a 19-15 lead midway through the quarter, Mazzulla turned to a double-big lineup featuring backups Neemias Queta and Xavier Tillman. Houston responded with a 12-3 run that was highlighted by Thompson, Houston’s young, athletic wing who missed the Jan. 3 meeting between the teams because of an injury.
Thompson was 6 for 7 from the field in the first half and put constant pressure on the Celtics at the rim.
Tatum, meanwhile, had no such luck from beyond the arc. He missed all four of his first-half 3-pointers, including an airball and other grisly misses, and was 0 for 5 overall during his scoreless first half.
The Rockets took a 31-27 lead to the second quarter and gradually extended it. A 3-pointer by Fred VanVleet with 4:14 left gave Houston a 50-39 lead, its largest of the half. But the Celtics closed the half with a 13-4 run to pull within 54-52 at the break.
Tatum rolled in a 16-footer to start the third quarter, but that did not instantly get him going. He missed his next three shots, with the groans from the fans increasing after each one. But with 5:35 left, Jrue Holiday passed up a pull-up jumper on a fast break to find Tatum for a layup as he was fouled, and that may have been the spark he needed.
With Porzingis on the bench after picking up his fifth foul, Tatum poured in 13 points over the final 5:35 of the quarter, including eight free throws, helping Boston take an 89-85 lead to the fourth.
Adam Himmelsbach can be reached at [email protected]. Follow him @adamhimmelsbach.
