The Celtics avenged their worst loss of the season against the Houston Rockets from back in November with a 114-93 blowout victory Wednesday at the Toyota Center on a second night of a back-to-back.
Derrick White finished with a game-high 28 points on 10-of-25 from the field, including 6-of-14 from deep to go along with eight assists, while Payton Prichard added 27 points on 5-of-10 from behind the arc and five assists -- playing off the bench for the second straight night following Tuesday's reported trade of Anfernee Simons to the Chicago Bulls for Nikola Vucevic.
"I remember [that loss]," White told reporters of the C's 128-101 home loss to the Rockets early in the season. "I don't know if everybody else remembered it, but I definitely remembered it. Obviously it was a really long time ago, obviously I think we are a different team and they're a different team now so...I mean...second night of a back-to-back, we just got to find a way to get it done and we were able to do that tonight."
Playing without Jaylen Brown (hamstring) and Sam Hauser (thumb), Joe Mazzulla turned to Luka Garza (16 points), Baylor Scheierman (15 points), and Ron Harper (11 points) as all three combined for 25 rebounds along with Neemias Queta (10 points) and his career-high 19 boards for the Celtics, who have won four in a row and are still tied for second place in the Eastern Conference at 33-18.
Kevin Durant (ankle) returned from a one-game absence to lead Houston with 15 points on just 4-of-11 shooting, while Alperen Sengun added 13 points, nine rebounds before getting tossed midway through the fourth quarter for receiving his second technical foul. Jabari Smith Jr. also recorded 13 points and Amen Thompson chipped in 11 points for the Rockets, who fell to 31-18 on the season.
Boston started off slow, scoring only 17 first quarter points but took a 49-42 advantage into the break, before they used an 18-3 run -- where they knocked down five 3-pointers -- to grab a double-digit lead for good with seven minutes left in the third period.
Another 10-1 spurt by the C's, including eight-straight points by White in that span later in the third, that made it 77-51 with four minutes left in the quarter.
Rockets coach Ime Udoka was ejected after getting back-to-back technical fouls for arguing with the referees and Boston converted four-straight free throws to end the period and take a 87-63 lead into the final frame.
Houston had a 17-4 home record entering Wednesday's matchup and were a 8.5 point favorite to win the game against a short-handed Celtics roster.
"It was a lack of fight, toughness, and effort. We looked like the team that played on the second night of a back-to-back. They had some players that just out-hustled us, out-toughed us," Udoka said in his postgame comments. "Overall, as a coaching staff, we should be embarrassed. The players out there on the court should be embarrassed."
The Celtics return home Friday night to host the Miami Heat at TD Garden, with an 8:00 pm ET tip-off.
Game Notes:
Boston hit 43% of their field goal attempts including 19-of-51 (37%) from 3-point range, while the Rockets were 41% from the field and 11-of-30 (37%) from long distance. The Celtics out-rebounded the home team 57-38, but were outscored in the paint 42-37. The C's dished out 26 assists on 39 baskets and committed 15 turnovers, while the Rockets had 16 dimes on 34 made shots and turned the ball over 10 times.
Joel Pavón
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