Rapid Recap is designed for the busiest of Celtics fans. Whether you canโt stay awake to read 10 paragraphs or your hangover is just too much, Rapid Recap tells the timeline of the game in only a minute or two.
It wasn’t unreasonable to think the Celtics could add another W to their streak tonight, even against an always-tough Rockets squad. But the offense just wasn’t anywhere close to what any team needs to beat Houston, even though the Boston defense helped keep things fairly close (until the contest’s end, when it got blown open and ended up being 116-105 Rockets). In a lot of ways they looked decidedly ready for the All-Star break.
Gordon Hayward and Jaylen Brown (20 on 57% shooting and 19 on 58%) were solid while Jayson Tatum and Kemba Walker were clunky with 15 and 14 on sub-40% numbers. It wasn’t enough to stop the expected James Harden onslaught (42 points), and arguably Russell Westbrook was even more effective with his 36-10-5.
While Boston set the tone early with well-executed plays that ended in clear runs to the rim and triples, it didn’t take long for Harden to start cooking.
Expect mismatch-hunting galore tonight.
— CelticsBlog (@celticsblog) February 12, 2020
Indeed. With these teams functioning somewhat as each other’s doppelgangers (relatively small-ball lineups, frequent switching, high-octane offense under usual conditions), it was little surprise they had an attritional, evenly matched game going halfway through Q1 (14-13 Celtics).
*grant is one of our best small ball defenders and now spot up shooters*
Brad: Iโm gonna play Enes instead of Grant— Riffs Man (@Riffs_Man) February 12, 2020
It got clunky for Boston right as Enes Kanter came in. Was it his fault they didn’t score for almost four minutes? No. The Cs played into the Rockets’ hand by trying to beat the latter at their own ISO game:
Definitely need Jaylen Brown self-creation possessions when Kemba, Tatum, and Hayward are available pic.twitter.com/VYsTwkXTiB
— Max Carlin (@maxacarlin) February 12, 2020
But Houston is not the right small-ball team to deploy Kanter early against. They didn’t need their nominal center Robert Covington (I can’t believe I just typed that) to defuse Enes’s offensive possessions when guys like Harden had plenty of length to do it. H-Town shooters took advantage of Boston’s mini-slump to gain a small lead (23-19), which they held until the quarter buzzer.
Theis gets to the line with 0.7 seconds left, so it's not like they went the whole quarter without getting a call.
— Mike Dynon โ๏ธ๐ (@MikeDynon) February 12, 2020
A small reprieve from The War on Theis! And he hit both FTs.
Block from Smart followed by the Tatum and-1: pic.twitter.com/Z6FllYihoO
— Chris Grenham (@chrisgrenham) February 12, 2020
Safe to say the Cs started Q2 determined not to repeat the previous quarter’s mistakes. They attacked with greater intensity and worked hard to neutralize Houston’s runs to the cup (sometimes too hard, as when Theis and Tatum combined to obliterate a Danuel House drive).
It can't be much simpler than this for the Celtics…. they started settling for J's late in the 1st & they gave up a big run. They got back to attacking the basket and they took back the lead.
— John Karalis ๐ฌ๐ท ๐บ๐ฆ (@John_Karalis) February 12, 2020
EARLY RETURN: The #Celtics come out attacking the #Rockets off the dribble in the 2Q … and it's working. Boston, on a 10-4 run, lead 29-27 after a lay-up by @FCHWPO. Time-out Houston, with 8:35 to play in the first half.
— A. Sherrod Blakely (@ASherrodblakely) February 12, 2020
Celtics are back to playing their pseudo zone. Basically Theis is zoning, while the other 4 switch around him. Theis guards whoever is closest to the basket. It's keeping him out of PnR and giving Boston a rim protector/rebounder on the backline.
— Keith Smith (@KeithSmithNBA) February 12, 2020
Good breakdown of the Cs defensive strategy by our CelticsBlog colleague up there.
Two steals for Wanamaker already, this last one right from Westbrook in the post, and the first one after digging down to help.
Love his effort and strength.
— CelticsBlog (@celticsblog) February 12, 2020
Grab & Go https://t.co/CiwFN6pqQo
— Boston Celtics (@celtics) February 12, 2020
Stuff like this also helped. On the other hand, Westbrook was incredibly good at getting to the line, both legitimately and for BS reasons, as in the following:
This hand-eye and body coordination – against Russell Westbrook in transition, no less – is absurd. This should've been a jump ball. pic.twitter.com/oc53iod3Iq
— Marc D'Amico (@Marc_DAmico) February 12, 2020
In fairness, Westbrook’s remained a dominant driver as his jumper has fallen into obsolescence, and he earned a fair number of his points honestly. And regardless, it would ultimately be good defense that headed off Houston’s mid-frame run:
Jayson Tatum is a dominant team defender pic.twitter.com/nuL9nK1eak
— Max Carlin (@maxacarlin) February 12, 2020
End of 2๏ธโฃ pic.twitter.com/mTSi5Br5y3
— Boston Celtics (@celtics) February 12, 2020
Things got drawn out and ugly in the second half for both sides, albeit considerably more so for Boston to start Q3. Houston had just enough wiliness to retake the leadโslightly at first, then by double digits as Harden went on a major run mostly by himself (not a big surprise if you’ve watched literally any Rockets games this season).
Harden's up to 17 points in the third quarter, and headed to the line for more.
— Adam Himmelsbach (@AdamHimmelsbach) February 12, 2020
AND DESPITE THAT, Houston couldn’t take charge quite the way they would’ve liked, holding a six-point (75-69) lead on Boston. The Cs were still making some good plays:
One of the Celtics's best offensive possessions of the game. Hayward gets some penetration, quickly moves the ball to Wanamaker to attack a defense in rotation, Grant seals pic.twitter.com/TSr2aW8LXJ
— Max Carlin (@maxacarlin) February 12, 2020
And then this weird shit happened:
Double foul???????
— #HonkHonk (@ColeyMick) February 12, 2020
Double foul on Grant Williams and Robert Covington because each ref refused to back down on their call. Looks like on replay that Williams slid his torso into the path just too late, so it should be a blocking foul upon review.
— Jared Weiss (@JaredWeissNBA) February 12, 2020
Which D'Antoni is now challenging
— John Karalis ๐ฌ๐ท ๐บ๐ฆ (@John_Karalis) February 12, 2020
We're really creeping into weird game territory. Between that halfcourt shot thing and this… we're one bizarre play away from an oral history piece on this game in 5 years
— John Karalis ๐ฌ๐ท ๐บ๐ฆ (@John_Karalis) February 12, 2020
Well…OK then. Hopefully there will be more info/perspective on that later for the Rational Thoughts piece. In any event, the Rockets held their mud enough to carry aย 78-71ย lead into the final frame of the game.
Oh hey, it's just Marcus Smart making another gritty defensive play. pic.twitter.com/tJgP30w8Ry
— Taylor Snow (@taylorcsnow) February 12, 2020
JT straight to the rim to make it a three point game
๐๐๐ฅ๐ญ๐ข๐๐ฌ ๐๐๐ฐ๐ข๐ง๐ (๐ฒ @MetroByTMobile) pic.twitter.com/7g9Mql0l7P— Celtics on NBC Sports Boston (@NBCSCeltics) February 12, 2020
Celtics in a zone out of the timeout. Covington gets a wide open 3 but misses.
— Adam Himmelsbach (@AdamHimmelsbach) February 12, 2020
It’d become evident to Brad Stevens and the Celtics that they had little chance of winning a shootout against the Rockets, so they put everything they could into defense. But they were still giving up too much at the rim, and on the offensive end, Tatum’s multi-game hot streak was coming to an end at the worst possible time. And yet……
Celtics should really look to go at Harden here. He's on a bad leg and has 5 fouls.
— Adam Himmelsbach (@AdamHimmelsbach) February 12, 2020
Sometimes you have to be lucky rather than good, as I’ve said more than a few times. Harden’s foul trouble meant he couldn’t drive as hard as he’d like (superstar or no, the chance of drawing an offensive foul when you’ve already got 5 is still too high to risk) and the Cs went with their most spry lineup of Walker, Tatum, Brown, Hayward and SMARF.
Iโve been waiting for this. Our best 5 against their best 5
— Cousin DPOY (not notable) (@AndrewDoxy) February 12, 2020
But…
It hit the point for the Celtics where they needed to get stops the rest of the game. Had a defensive breakdown that led to a layup for Westbrook. Then Brown rolled his ankle.
Then a turnover on an ATO. Game is slipping away from the Celtics.
— Keith Smith (@KeithSmithNBA) February 12, 2020
With that, Liam began shouting fuckword after fuckword after fuckword. The chance at regaining momentum was lost.
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