5 Takeaways: Boston continues to shock the NBA

It sure seems like this has happened a lot through 51 games. 

The Celtics were given every reason to not give their best effort. To throw in the towel and get beat by what on paper, sure seems like the better team. 

That was certainly not the case as Boston, with just 10 available players, without Jaylen Brown, Sam Hauser and Anfernee Simons (or the man replacing him) stared what should be a title contender in the face — and it beat them handedly. 

Here are five takeaways from the 114-93 blowout win… 

Harper didn’t know he was starting when he woke up in the morning, but when he walked into the team meeting at the hotel he saw his name on the board and knew he had an opportunity. 

He took complete advantage of it. 

Where were you for the Ron Harper Jr. game? 

It wasn’t that kind of performance by the 25 year old in his first career start, but it was an impressive effort nonetheless. 

Harper finished with 11 points, with three triples coming in the second, and nine rebounds. 

The best part of the Rutgers product game however was locking up Kevin Durant. The forward mustered just 15 points on 4-for-11 shooting, and really looked uncomfortable for most of the night. 

“I tried to do everything in my power to deny him the ball,” Harper said. “Just try to frustrate him.” 

Once Brown, Hauser and an arriving Nikola Vučević return to the floor, Harper probably returns to Maine, but he does look like another developmental chip for Joe Mazzulla to take advantage of. 

It’s starting to sound like a broken record, but it’s well known that Derrick White has struggled shooting the ball this season. 

If Boston was going to win on Wednesday, White was going to have to give it something more offensively. 

He delivered. 

White finished with 28 points on 10-for-25 shooting, including 14 points in the third which sparked a run that won the Celtics the game. 

In a season in which Boston has probably needed a little more from White than he has given them, he delivered on a night no one was really expecting him too. 

Help is coming for Boston’s front court, and while Neemias Queta’s role may become diminished, he is still proving how valuable he is to the Celtics this season. 

Queta dominated the glass all night, finishing with 10 points and 19 rebounds. Houston has been the best rebounding team in the league coming into Wednesday, and the Celtics big man was certainly up to the task. 

While his role could shrink with Vučević, Queta would be a real weapon to utilize in certain situations going forward. 

Speaking of big men progressing, Luka Garza continues to look like a real bench piece for Mazzulla and the Celtics. Garza finished with a season-high 19 points on 7-for-13 shooting. 

The Iowa product has proven to be a player Boston could lean on for some offense, and like Queta he may slide down the depth chart, but he’ll only become more valuable when the Cs are forced to give him minutes. 

Baylor Scheierman also delivered a strong performance on Wednesday, and while he may not traditionally fit in the big man category, he certainly played like it. The forward finished with 15 points and 10 rebounds, hitting three triples on 5-for-10 shooting. 

In recent weeks Scheierman has received a lot more run from Mazzulla and for the most part he’s looked good on the floor. 

If you zoom out and take a wider picture of this Celtics roster, there are some really solid younger players that, if they continue to develop, could become pieces in Boston’s next title run. 

This wasn’t newsworthy from Wednesday's game, but Rockets head coach Ime Udoka does provide a unique perspective on the ongoing Jayson Tatum situation and how Brown fits into the conversation. 

With Jayson Tatum’s name hot in the news after his comments and reports displayed some hesitations about the star returning to the floor this season, it has once again brought up some questions regarding Tatum and Brown coexisting in Boston. 

Udoka — who coached Tatum and Brown en route to a 2022 NBA Finals appearance — certainly knows both players pretty well, and he commented on what has kind of been an elephant in the room that has always been there with the Celtics stars. 

 “There’s a healthy competition with him and Jayson pushing each other,” Udoka said. "It's always been there.” 

The competition between Tatum and Brown is something that everyone, whether they are around the team or not, knows has to exist in some form between the two. Perhaps it was more intense when they were younger, but it probably is still there in both of them today. 

So in turn it is fair to ask the question, and for Tatum to ask himself, what happens when he comes back. This has very much been Brown’s team, but does it become Tatum’s again even if he isn’t what he once was? 

They’ve both always wanted to be the top guy, but there very well be more of a competition for that role when Tatum returns.