After a thrilling win on Christmas Day, the Celtics will be in Houston tonight to take on the Rockets. Right now, Houston is 18-15 and sits 7th in the Western Conference. They’re coming off of a big win of their own on Christmas, defeating the Thunder 113-109.
This should be a good game tonight because of the recent history between these two teams. The last four meetings between these two sides have all been close. Only one of them was decided by more than 3 points which was a 120-109 Celtics win. The home team has also won every time over the last two seasons. Both of last year’s games were thrillers. You had the game where the Celtics came from 26 down to win with the help of Marcus Smart, and there was the 123-120 Houston victory which was a great prime time game last March.
Despite the reports of James Harden being questionable tonight, he has been upgraded to likely. Chris Paul will be sidelined once again for the Rockets because of a hamstring issue. For the Celtics, Aron Baynes is still out with his broken hand.
Smart vs Harden
One thing that fans can now look forward to because of James Harden’s “likely” status is the battle between him and Marcus Smart. These two have a decent amount of history throughout the tightly contested games over the last few seasons.
The first recollection I have of their rivalry was the game in Houston two seasons ago. The Celtics were trailing down the stretch and Smart drew an offensive foul on Harden. I actually think the foul was upgraded to a flagrant after the officials looked at the replay. The Celtics still lost that game after Al Horford missed an easy layup for the win.
The most notable part of the rivalry between Smart and Harden was the game in Boston last season. This was the game where the Celtics were down 26 points and came all the way back to beat Houston. They couldn’t have completed their comeback without Marcus. He scored a huge layup down the stretch and then was able to draw two offensive fouls on James Harden within the last 15 seconds of the game. It was one of the most incredible things I’ve ever seen on a basketball court in terms of defending. Smart was clearly in Harden’s head and Harden was having none of it.
Last season Harden was guarded by Marcus Smart for 30 possessions. During that time, Harden only scored 5 points. Smart is obviously in all of James Harden’s nightmares, and those nightmares could become reality tonight with Marcus in the starting lineup. We should get to see quite a bit of this great match-up because James Harden has the highest usage rate in the league.
Heat Check For Kyrie
The Celtics will have their work cut out for them trying to slow down James Harden, but they’ll also be faced with the task of trying to keep up with his scoring.
It’s a good thing that Kyrie has been red hot as of late. He scored 40 against the Sixers on Christmas and had 25 in the previous game against Charlotte. A large part of his big games has been the first quarter. He’s averaged 16.5 points in the opening quarter of the last two games. I feel like the home fans may have a bit of an impact on his hot starts. It’s easier to come out and hit shots when the fans are anticipating him scoring. That’s something he should be able to feel as a player. It will be interesting to see how well he’ll be able to start on the road.
There is a bit of a difference in Kyrie’s splits when playing on the road. He averages 3 less ppg away from home and his field goal percent drops by 8%. The team has really been relying on Irving quite a bit lately. Hopefully he’ll keep things going tonight in Houston.
It’s Time For the Bench to Step Up
I feel like I’m always writing about the bench needing to be better but it’s true. Against the Sixers the bench wasn’t all that great in terms of scoring. The only guy that had double digits was Terry Rozier. Gordon Hayward and Jaylen Brown both had rough days from the floor. They combined to shoot 4-13 from the field.
As I wrote in the last section, Kyrie has been a huge reason for the team’s success lately. These other guys need to be able to play when he’s off the floor. Watching the Celtics play without Kyrie is probably similar to what it feels like to drown. It’s like there’s nothing that the team can do when he’s on the bench. They just go on massive scoring droughts and let the opposing team climb back into the game.
If either Jaylen Brown or Gordon Hayward could find a bit of consistency this team would be so much better. Tonight could prove to be a decent opportunity for these guys because there isn’t much defensive emphasis for the Rockets. Houston is 28th in the league in defensive rating. I’d look for one of these two to play a bit more to their true abilities against this Rockets team.
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