Houston 93, Boston 77

[recap] [box score]

I was watching the tournament, so I don't know what the hell is going on, either. From following the score, though, I can tell you that it was never really a game. For the first time all year, really, the Celtics got blown out.

Framed that way -- "for the first time all year, the Celtics got blown out" -- it doesn't seem that bad. But consider: We're 7-5 since we traded Kendrick Perkins; we've scored more than 87 points once in the last six games; we're on the verge of losing home-court advantage in the East; and we have to play in New Orleans Saturday night. We haven't been healthy, so I know it's not time to panic, but it's a little weird that we're playing worse as we're getting guys back. And I know that Shaq's still out, but Nenad Krstic hasn't been the problem -- or he hasn't been the problem that Shaq is capable of fixing.

On the bright side, the Bulls lost in overtime to Indiana Friday night, so we're technically still atop the East. Even that silver lining comes with a gray cloud, though; Derrick Rose nearly willed the Bulls to victory after coming back from a big deficit. That guy is terrifying right now.

The Next Lamb: The Houston Rockets

Game 37: Houston (16-21) at Boston (28-8)

Monday, January 10

7:30 p.m. Eastern

NBA League Pass

As NBA injury stories go, the story of Yao Ming certainly rivals that of Portland's Greg Oden in terms of basketball tragedy. Yao missed all of last season with a foot injury, came back for the first few weeks of this season, then suffered a stress fracture in his foot while rehabbing a strained tendon in his leg. Another season gone, and there are very real concerns that he's played his last NBA game.

Trying to re-incorporate Yao into the offense at the beginning of the season (while dealing with his minutes cap and unavailability on the second night of back-to-backs) cost Houston at the start of the year, as the Rockets dropped their first five games. After Yao got hurt, the team struggled through the end of November, in part due to an ankle injury to point guard Aaron Brooks.

They seemed to be turning things around at the end of 2010, going 11-4 in December and winning five of their final six games of the calendar year. But a brutal schedule -- five games in seven days, all against current playoff teams -- combined with a more minor ankle injury to Brooks has the Rockets slumping, losers of their first five games of 2011.

When Brooks is healthy, he's the Rockets most dangerous offensive weapon, a true scorer with no fear and great range. He's not healthy, though; he never made it into the starting lineup after his injury (coming off the bench for 20-25 minutes per game in the six games he played before getting hurt again) and clearly isn't the same player yet. So even if he does play, Boston's defensive focus should be on shooting guard Kevin Martin, a wispy shooting guard with an uncanny knack for getting to the line, and Luis Scola, their terrific power forward. Kevin Garnett may be back for Boston, which would be a huge boost. I'm assuming the Rockets took notice of the way that Chicago's Carlos Boozer took advantage of Glen Davis in the post last night, and if KG is out of the lineup, I would expect a heavy dose of Scola.

In the absence of Yao, 6-6 Chuck Hayes was getting the majority of starts at center, but he's out until later in the month with an ankle injury of his own. Second-year player Jordan Hill has been getting the starts with Hayes out, but veteran Brad Miller -- an old favorite of coach Rick Adelman's from their glory days in Sacramento -- has been getting the majority of the minutes. Miller is a hard-nosed center with great passing ability and good range for a man his size, but his lack of mobility means that Shaquille O'Neal shouldn't have as much trouble with him as some other centers in the league. Hill might give Shaq more trouble, at least on the glass, but his lack of polish will hurt him, and he's not as aggressive as some of the other young bigs in the league. Rookie Patrick Patterson has made his way into the rotation due to the injuries and provides rebounding and a little bit of scoring.

Houston's starting point guard is Kyle Lowry, a brawny six-footer who isn't flashy but gets the job done on both ends of the court. He's a passable three-point shooter at 37.1 percent, but his overall field goal percentage is just 39.2 percent, so I imagine Boston will be more than willing to let him get his own shot rather than deal to Martin and Scola. The Rockets have a variety of effective perimeter players, including veteran Shane Battier and young guns Courtney Lee and Chase Budinger. Defending the three-point line will be a big key for Boston.

In conclusion, I love watching Houston because of how hard they play. There's no team in the league that brings it every night harder than the Rockets do. Boston's had a tendency to sleepwalk through games in past years. It's not as big a problem this year as it has been, but they better be ready to play from the beginning, or they might find themselves slapped with an unexpected home loss -- despite all of Houston's injuries.

Links of the Day (November 9, 2010)

(Programming note: Links posts have already slowed down in frequency, and they will continue to do so and may even die out. This is the busy time of the semester for me, and I'm trying to do more with the blog than I ever have before. The links get the short end of the stick because I want to make sure I'm getting enough of my own content up.)

• It was a great night in the NBA, not that I saw any of it. But my man Paul Millsap dropped 46 on the Heat to lead an improbable Jazz comeback in Miami, and Indiana hung 54 points on Denver in the third quarter, making 20 of 21 shots in the process.
• It looks like the Rockets are re-thinking the limitations they placed (no more than 24 minutes per game, no back-to-backs) on Yao at the beginning of the season. I wonder if Houston's tough start -- a 1-5 record and an injury to point guard Aaron Brooks -- has anything to do with it.
• I can't get enough stories like this one about Al Jefferson. Everything I've ever heard suggests that Big Al J is a great teammate and a real easy guy to coach.
• Lamar Odom is suing the IRS. Without doing any research, it seems to me that he at least has a colorable argument.
• The above paragraph is not legal advice.

Boston 94, Houston 87

[recap] [box score]

This was a terrific start to the road trip. It only gets tougher from here and this was not a flawless game, but there were a lot of good things. Bulleted good things, in fact, in no particular order:

• Rajon Rondo held Aaron Brooks to 10 points on 4-for-12 shooting. Brooks can really play, and he's one of the few guys in the league that might be quicker than Rondo. But Rondo, with help, kept Brooks under control, and that's a key to beating Houston.
• Five offensive rebounds for Glen Davis. Frankly, we basically suck on the offensive glass, especially with Shelden Williams reserved to a cleanup role, so this is a welcome development. Big Baby still needs to work on converting these second-chance opportunities -- he had his shot blocked four times -- but he finally seems willing to mix it up and do Leon Powe-type things, so it's a step in the right direction.
• Continued strong play from the Big Three, which combined for 60 points on 23-for-42 from the field.
• Solid performance from the bench. Davis had seven points and seven boards, Rasheed Wallace had seven points and nine rebounds, and Nate Robinson contributed another eight points. Nothing spectacular, but if we can get 70 points from our starters on a night we play our signature good defense, this is all we need from that group.
• My favorite: Real offense in crunch time! Up five with under a minute to play, needing a bucket to seal the game, we didn't isolate Paul Pierce and let him go one-on-one after letting the shot clock run down. Instead, we ran an actual play, got the ball to KG on the wing, and curled Pierce off a screen on the opposite block. Houston botched the switch, Garnett hit Pierce with a perfect pass, and the captain laid it in to lock up the W.

All in all a good win where we just outplayed the other team, and don't have to attribute it to unusually hot shooting or bad play from the bad guys. Sure, we made ten of 23 three-pointers, but we also missed six of 16 free throws and scored 12 fewer points than the Rockets from the line (despite the fact that Houston wasn't noticeably more aggressive than we were throughout the game). Let's hope we can keep it up Saturday night against Dallas.

Boston 109, New York 97

[recap] [box score]

Boston continued their recent domination of the Knicks with a 12-point victory that wasn't nearly that close. This was the 11th straight home win for the Celtics on St. Patrick's Day, which sounds impressive, and they haven't lost at home on March 17 since 1968, which sounds even more impressive. It's less impressive when you consider how bad New York is, but whatever.

"Whatever" is probably the best work to describe this game, but the Celtics are about to embark on a four-game stretch that is vey much not "whatever." Next up is a road game in Houston on Friday, followed by a road game in Dallas the very next night, followed by a road game in Utah on Monday. They then come home to play Denver on Wednesday. (It only gets slightly easier after that; the next three are home dates against Sacramento, San Antonio, and Oklahoma City).

With the season winding down, this is basically the last chance for the Celtics to establish themselves as a real contender with a prolonged period of excellent play elite competition. A home date with Cleveland is on the schedule for April 4, but a single positive result wouldn't prove nearly as much as a series of strong performances over the next week. Two years ago, if memory serves, the Celtics swept a similar road trip. Another sweep certainly wouldn't guarantee a championship, but it would serve as notice that Boston is back and ready for the playoffs.

That's true in part because the team, finally, appears to be healthy and complete. Kevin Garnett's 22 points on Wednesday was his third straight game in double figures, and he's made 20 of 31 shots over that stretch. Paul Pierce led all Celtics against the Knicks with 29 points, and he's now 28-for-49 over the last four outings, which is hopefully a sign that he's recovered enough from the injuries that have plagued him this year. Nate Robinson has now played around a dozen or so games in a green and white uniform and should be acclimated enough to make a steady contribution. And despite the skepticism voiced by some commentators (ahem!), Michael Finley -- his 1-for-9 performance against New York notwithstanding -- has shown in half a dozen games that he can, at the very least, knock down a few shots (before Wednesday, he was 18-for-28 from the field as a Celtic, including 6-for-11 from behind the three-point line).

Of course, no injuries means no excuses, and so this is kind of a judgment day for the Celtics. Denver and Dallas are making a late charge at the Lakers for the top of the Western Conference, and Utah is in fourth and has been one of the league's hottest teams over the last several weeks. And Houston, while not currently a playoff team, is still very much in the hunt, five games out of the eighth spot pending results of Wednesday's games. They'll be hungry.

Viewing Alert

Huge game tonight, as Boston travels to Cleveland to take on the East-leading Cavs. It's on ESPN at 8 p.m. Eastern. This has major implications for our mindset, as well as the Eastern Conference in general.

I didn't watch Tuesday's overtime loss at Charlotte. I had been out with some old co-workers and when I got back, I couldn't bear the thought of two-and-a-half hours of us losing to the Bobcats. I did catch Tuesday's 89-85 defeat at home against Tracy McGrady-less Houston.

I'm stumped as to why we're losing suddenly, six of eight after such an incredible start. I haven't been watching as much or as closely over the past few weeks because of all the running around I've done on winter break, but I'm coming up empty trying to think of reasons why we aren't scoring and aren't stopping people. I really thought we had the Rockets after Garnett made that great dish to Rajon Rondo (you can see it at the end of the highlight reel in the game link, above) and then blocked a shot on the other end. But we couldn't take advantage on the other end, and Houston's Von Wafer hit the game-winning three.

I was disappointed in our effort down the stretch in that one, partially because we failed to protect homecourt, and partially because we got outplayed by an inferior team down the stretch (for the last few minutes, the Rockets were without McGrady and Ron Artest, who fouled out). It's especially concerning because the game was an intense one; a couple typically hard Artest fouls on Paul Pierce made sure of that.

I really don't know what to expect tonight out of the Cs. I want to say they'll come out and play a great game, but there's something going on besides mindset. They can't still be in a funk from the loss to the Lakers. They've had plenty of opportunity over these last eight games to rebound, and they haven't done it. It's not a matter of just showing up and willing themselves to play well. It's more than that. And they're going to have to bring their very best tonight if they want to win in Cleveland.

Celtics Take On Rockets

I was going to write a bit more about our next opponent, the Houston Rockets (8:30 p.m. Eastern, NBATV), but I needed to write about the Iverson trade first, and before I did that, I needed a nap, because I was up til 5 a.m. Pacific Monday morning doing homework. Between my nap and the Iverson post, I got distracted, first by Grizzlies-Warriors (27 and 16 for the Spanish Flea!), then by the Monday Night Football game (which had big implications for two of my fantasy teams), then by dinner (cheese ravioli and frozen veggies), then by an entire episode of The Sarah Connor Chronicles (happy that I finally watched the show that ran those ads with Danzig's "Mother" during last year's Finals!).

So you get a long Iverson post and a short note on the Rockets. Whatever. It's Election Day; none of you people are reading anyway.

Houston made a big splash this offseason, adding Ron Artest to Tracy McGrady and Yao Ming, thus giving them a Big Three -- if an oft-injured Big Three -- of their own. Early returns (political term, +1) are mixed: The Rockets looked dreadful offensively in beating the Grizzlies 82-71 on opening night in Houston; put up 62 points -- more than they scored through three quarters against Memphis -- the next night in Dallas; then moved to 3-0 on Saturday with a listless 89-77 home win over Oklahoma City.

So the good news is that Houston has hardly been dominant, barely sliding by hapless opponents like Memphis and Oklahoma City. The bad news is that the Rockets came to play the one night they had to, and the Celtics count as an opponent against whom you have to come to play.

This is likely one of the games where our role players are going to decide if we win or not. Pierce is going to have his work cut out for him on both ends of the floor against Artest; ditto Ray with McGrady; and KG is going to have his hands full with the seemingly endless string of energetic, physical big men the Rockets can run out there. (Luis Scola, Carl Landry, Chuck Hayes -- why did this team draft Joey Dorsey? How many of the same guy do you need?)

So a key matchup comes at the point guard slot, where Rondo should have a big advantage over Rafer Alston. It's not so big an advantage, however, to overcome the mismatch at center, where Yao has a big edge over Perkins even when Perk is playing well. For the record, Perk isn't playing well, or at least he hasn't yet; he had trouble with Roy Hibbert against the Pacers on Saturday, so I'm not terribly optimistic about how he'll handle Yao.

Houston's bench is good, too, with point guard Aaron Brooks complementing the aforementioned depth up front. It actually should be pretty fun to watch Powe and Big Baby go up against the likes of Landry and Hayes -- you aren't going to see many guys who play harder than that crew.

Actually, I'm not going to see it at all; with no digital cable and no sports bars I know of -- never mind feel particularly safe walking to -- nearby, I'm in the dark on this one, since it's on NBATV and therefore blacked out on League Pass Broadband (which I don't really understand). Depending on how the game goes, how much work I get done, and whether or not the presidential election ends with rioting in the streets outside my apartment, I'll give some thoughts on what I can ascertain from the boxscore. If not, I'll be back with you on Wednesday, when we face Oklahoma City and Kevin Durant.