In difficulty on the road, the Rockets rediscovered the taste of victory at home against Utah on Saturday evening. The next day, we had to continue with the reception of the best team in the league, Boston. All without Fred VanVleet, Jabari Smith Jr, Jeff Green and Tari Eason…
Why fear the worst? Not completely because if the Rockets lost, logically dominated by solid Celtics from the start to the end of the meeting, they never gave up.
“We played hard together”rejoices Dillon Brooks for the Houston Chronicle. “Even when we were far away, we found a way to get back to three points. It's good to know that we have it in us, that we are capable of playing at this level against a good team in the league. »
Ime Udoka's players took several minutes to really achieve good sequences, helped by a Boston team which sometimes stuttered with its basketball. “Our second half was much better, we progressed in many areas,” remarks the coach, who also insists on a sequence from the last quarter. “We took 70 points in the first half, and 46 in the second. We had our chance, at 90-93. »
Be more in action and less in reaction
They had just gone 8-0 then. For the first time in a while, they have the Celtics within shooting distance. They miss two shots in a row and Joe Mazzulla then takes a time-out. The Celtics then reacted with a 5-0 and the Texans' luck was over.
“We did a good job in this match,” still believes Alperen Sengun, author of a triple-double with 24 points, 12 rebounds and 10 assists. “We fought, we came back. It wasn't an easy match, Boston is one of the best teams in the league and, the day before, we had a big match. There, we had to do without VanVleet and Smith Jr. We stayed in the match. We didn't know how to finish, but we were good. »
As Ime Udoka pointed out, the Rockets' focus “was better” in the second half. But against such a lineup, you have to be stronger for longer and still hit hard in the big moments. Don't just be in reaction.
“As during a large part of the season, we have series”concludes Jae’Sean Tate. “We try to be more consistent during an entire match. We show things in certain sequences, but we have to do it over time. We are still trying to understand how to do it away because, at home, with the support of the public, we manage to play hard. We have to be the aggressors every match, we have to set the tone. »
| Shots | Rebounds | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Players | MJ | Min | Shots | 3pts | L.F. | Off | Def | Early | Pd | Bp | Int | Ct | Party | Pts |
| Alperen Sengun | 41 | 32.6 | 53.8 | 28.9 | 71.3 | 2.7 | 6.4 | 9.1 | 4.9 | 2.6 | 1.2 | 0.8 | 3.3 | 21.9 |
| Fred Vanvleet | 40 | 37.0 | 40.6 | 38.8 | 86.7 | 0.4 | 3.4 | 3.8 | 8.5 | 1.6 | 1.0 | 0.8 | 2.2 | 17.3 |
| Jalen Green | 41 | 30.2 | 39.8 | 32.3 | 80.3 | 0.4 | 4.2 | 4.6 | 3.1 | 2.2 | 0.6 | 0.3 | 1.3 | 17.1 |
| Jabari Smith, Jr. | 40 | 31.7 | 47.4 | 38.2 | 80.9 | 2.0 | 6.8 | 8.7 | 1.5 | 1.2 | 0.6 | 0.8 | 2.9 | 13.7 |
| Dillon Brooks | 32 | 31.2 | 47.0 | 39.9 | 83.3 | 0.7 | 2.8 | 3.5 | 1.5 | 1.6 | 0.9 | 0.1 | 3.6 | 13.4 |
| Tari Eason | 22 | 21.8 | 46.6 | 36.0 | 63.6 | 2.1 | 4.9 | 7.0 | 1.2 | 0.9 | 1.4 | 0.9 | 2.3 | 9.8 |
| Cam Whitmore | 18 | 14.9 | 49.2 | 40.4 | 63.6 | 0.6 | 2.6 | 3.1 | 0.3 | 0.7 | 0.7 | 0.2 | 1.3 | 9.6 |
| Jeff Green | 40 | 16.3 | 52.1 | 32.0 | 82.4 | 0.7 | 1.4 | 2.1 | 0.8 | 0.7 | 0.1 | 0.5 | 1.5 | 6.6 |
| Aaron Holiday | 39 | 16.5 | 43.6 | 39.6 | 89.3 | 0.3 | 1.5 | 1.8 | 1.5 | 0.7 | 0.5 | 0.1 | 1.5 | 6.3 |
| Amen Thompson | 22 | 15.7 | 45.0 | 14.3 | 65.8 | 0.9 | 2.8 | 3.7 | 1.8 | 1.1 | 1.0 | 0.3 | 1.8 | 5.9 |
| Jae'sean Tate | 39 | 18.7 | 47.7 | 29.5 | 71.4 | 1.1 | 2.5 | 3.6 | 1.1 | 0.4 | 0.7 | 0.2 | 2.5 | 4.7 |
| Nate Williams, Jr. | 6 | 6.0 | 50.0 | 0.0 | 80.0 | 0.5 | 0.0 | 0.5 | 0.5 | 0.2 | 0.3 | 0.0 | 0.7 | 3.3 |
| Nathaniel Hinton | 5 | 5.3 | 44.4 | 80.0 | 0.0 | 0.4 | 0.6 | 1.0 | 0.2 | 0.2 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 1.0 | 2.4 |
| Boban Marjanovic | 6 | 6.2 | 38.9 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.8 | 1.7 | 2.5 | 0.7 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.2 | 0.7 | 2.3 |
| Reggie Bullock | 17 | 9.3 | 40.0 | 38.5 | 100.0 | 0.1 | 1.3 | 1.4 | 0.5 | 0.2 | 0.1 | 0.1 | 0.5 | 2.3 |
| Jock Landale | 23 | 8.9 | 35.3 | 11.8 | 80.0 | 1.0 | 0.8 | 1.8 | 0.5 | 0.3 | 0.3 | 0.4 | 0.9 | 2.0 |
| Jermaine Samuels | 6 | 6.3 | 71.4 | 0.0 | 100.0 | 0.2 | 1.2 | 1.3 | 0.3 | 0.0 | 0.2 | 0.2 | 0.5 | 2.0 |
