BOSTON -- The Boston Celtics put together their first three-game winning streak of the Ime Udoka era on Monday night, using a 24-3 third quarter run to cruise to a 108-90 blowout win over the Rockets at TD Garden.
Jayson Tatum finished with a game-high 30 points while Jaylen Brown added 19 points in his return following a three-week layoff due to a strained hamstring. Robert Williams also made a notable impact (season-high 15 rebounds in 23 minutes) as he returned from a left knee injury that sidelined him for the past three games. Al Horford (11 points, 11 rebounds) and Dennis Schroder (18 points) also chipped in as five different Celtics scored in double figures.
Armani Brooks finished with a team-high 17 points off the bench for the Rockets who have now lost 15 consecutive games overall. The Celtics have won five straight games at TD Garden after opening the season 0-3 on their home floor.
Here are four instant takeaways from the matchup as the Celtics improved to 10-8 on the season:
Jayson Tatum carried the Celtics offense early: The All-Star scored Bostons’s first eight points of the game and didn’t slow down from there, helping carry a largely lifeless Boston offense for the opening two frames of the contest. Tatum was aggressive with his offense, attacking Houston’s big men in the paint regularly to set a new season-high with nine free throw attempts in just the first half. He scored 22 points on just 11 field goal attempts in the opening two periods, scoring over 40 percent of Boston’s first half output (52 points). With the rest of Boston’s offense largely sputtering around him early on (Celtics not named Tatum shot just 11-of-31 in the first half), Tatum’s fast start helped erase a six-point first quarter lead for Houston and push the Celtics in front by halftime by five points. His teammates were able to pick up the offensive slack for him in the second half as he finished with just 30 points but it was another productive outing for the 23-year-old who has now scored 30-plus points in four straight contests.
Jaylen Brown finds his groove after a rusty start in return to floor: In his first game action since Nov. 4 following a strained hamstring injury, Brown was kept to shorter stints amid a minutes limit of 24. The veteran missed his first three shots of the game and picked up three fouls in the first half as he seemed to struggle to keep pace with quicker Rockets guards on the perimeter defensively. Ultimately, he found a bit of an offensive rhythm in the third quarter, knocking down three straight shots in one stretch including back-to-back 3s in transition to give himself 12 points in the frame during a six-minute outburst on his way to a 19 point night. There was a lack of offensive cohesiveness early in the starting five upon Brown’s long layoff so that’s an area that Ime Udoka and his staff will need to work on improving in the coming days as tougher competition begins to pile up. However, Brown seemed to gain a lot more comfort level with his hamstring during his cutting and transition attacks as the game wore on, a sign he could be ready for a bigger workload against the Brooklyn Nets on Wednesday.
Celtics ratcheted up the intensity on both ends after halftime: Ime Udoka was not happy in the early moments of Monday’s contest, calling several timeouts in the first half after seeing a flat Boston offense shoot just 33 percent in the opening 24 minutes. The visitors also found easy looks on the interior constantly (27 points in the paint in the first half) against what is a normally stout Boston defense that was back at full strength on Monday night. However, a lethargic effort turned in a hurry for the hosts at the start of the third quarter as a 24-3 run by the Celtics in the opening half of the period turned a tight game into a 26=point blowout quickly. Houston hit just one shot in the opening 7:30 of the period and the Celtics offense attacked relentlessly in transition with Al Horford and Jaylen Brown doing most of the offensive damage in a 34-16 frame. Houston has one of the worst offenses in the NBA this year and it was easy to see why when Boston began engaging more with their defense.
Enes Kanter gets the nod over Boston’s youth off the bench: The return of Rob Williams to the starting five pushed Grant Williams back to the bench and made it unclear how exactly Ime Udoka would handle his reserve rotation. The absence of Josh Richardson (non-COVID illness) seemingly opened the door for some opportunity for Payton Pritchard or Aaron Nesmith even with Jaylen Brown back in the lineup. However, Udoka opted to ride some veteran depth in this contest, with Kanter getting the call over the young duo for bench minutes. With Richardson likely to be back in the lineup on Wednesday against the Nets and Brown trending towards a heavier minutes load, there doesn’t appear to be a path to regular minutes for Pritchard and Nesmith for the time being.
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