ClutchFans Game Thread: Celtics @ Rockets 3/3/2018

Just based on highlights it looks like Ariza came in clutch with a steal,3, and a lay-up to close the game

 

That play was the game changer that gave us the lead, 117-115
and led us to victory. The steal and the layup.

 

Definitely most impressive win of the year given how good the Celtics were playing. A total team win as Harden and CP3 did not have great games. Harden was great on defense, but needs to know when to stop shooting threes and or look for fouls. Gordon and Ariza co-players of the game. I hope after this guy all you fans who think Ariza shouldn't start and has regressed so much will finally shut your ****ing mouths!! Nene and Capela were great too and boy Tucker who was the ultimate hustler tonight. Luc had has moment on both sides as well.

One thing I didn't like is how MDA kept going with Joe Johnson the way he was playing. Could've given some minutes to Green. However, a very gutsy move at the end of the game to not play Gordon and go with the starters. Gordon was red hot and it could've cost us the game. Impressed with MDA lately regardless of some minor nitpicks about minutes and rotations.

This was the best test of the streak aside from the Jazz game. I really feel we should be able to beat anyone. Let's take care of OKC next

P.S. The referees gave out some weird technical fouls, didn't call obvious charges and offensive fouls on both sides, yet ticky tack stuff got called. So odd..

 

Rockets are 27-9 against .500+ opponents.

Capaulden could become the first Trio in league history with 25+ PER each.

 

One of those nights that the Celtics bench looked like super starters while the starters were meh.

 

They showed the overhead replay and it looked clean. I was yelling out of bounds when watching live as well. What a move.

 

GREAT win.

Just wish James would learn to reign in the iso threes when his jumper isn't on. Especially the last two on Kyrie...he could have easily gotten past him, but settled for the stepbacks instead.

 

Of course its not automatic. I said "guess".

Hayward doesn't guarantee Boston is better, but better players usually make teams better. Stevens is a coach who can maximize any situation.

 

Wow what a game Clutch City. A few years ago we would'v crumbled. You talk about being resilient and pressing through adversity.

Games like this are big time confidence builders. This team is championship ready.

 

Get past em, and dish it to the open man, as the defense collapses on you, James.

 

Lol we won because harden was team high +21 not despite of it

Yeah best 3 pt shooter on the team this year needs to shoot less

And again, those are fouls! Ask the league ask the refs

 

I'm hard to convince, having seen so many tough teams, and NBA Champions over the years. I have come to the conclusion that our Houston Rockets are for real. I don't know if we will win the Championship, but I feel we will give it our all. Go Houston Rockets!

 

Another nice team win. Credit to Boston as they took away the roll man entirely (both lobs and bounce passes) and still challenged the drive with long, athletic defenders. They tried to maintain that pressure and jump back to the 3-point line, but Gordon, Ariza, and Tucker just killed them. That just speaks to the maturity of our offense that Harden can be slightly off with his jumper and we can put up 120 points.

As others have pointed out, Boston dared Harden to shoot those early ISO 3s. That's not my favorite shot, but he's proven that he can bury those. . . It looked to me like Harden was poking and probing, trying to figure out what they were doing on the drives. . . He wasn't all that aggressive, but I'm grateful that he abandoned the drive and lunge/grab plays.

Our defense is still a work in progress especially when we face bigger frontlines. Eighteen times down the court, Tucker was the primary defender on Horford. The results: zero points and only 3 fg attempts. That's a big reason that we won the game. But obviously Monroe vs. Nene did not go well (22 matchups, 12 points plus an additional 41 team points when they were matched up). That gets inside why Nene's +/- was so terrible (-16). He's not giving us much in when we're matching him up against bigger players. But I'm not too worried about that.

If our overall team defense continues to grow, we can become increasingly disruptive. That's what we have to be in order to win.

 

That 3-4 minute stretch at the end was a thing of beauty.

 

and it came in right at the spot after mark jackson complimented celtics for giving 'the winning effort'

 

anyone noticing van Gundy calling the Mbah a Moute - Mah Bootay?

i thought i misheard him last time but now i heard him do it again..

 

Tenacious defense and the willingness to fight it out was good because that’s what you can expect in the playoffs so positive win against a really and I mean really defensively talented and disciplined outfit. Good signs for the Playoffs