Celtics earn surprising win over Rockets, 114-93

On the heels of a back-to-back, eight games in 13 days and without Jaylen Brown, the Celtics walked into Houston severely undermanned and ripe for the picking. 

No one told them that. 

Boston earned what may be its most surprising win of the season in a 114-93 blowout victory over the Rockets on Wednesday night. 

Derrick White looked like Derrick White again as he torched Houston with 28 points on 10-for-25 shooting. The guard has struggled with his shot for large stretches of the season, but with the Celtics leaning on White, he delivered with his best performance in a long time. 

Payton Pritchard also looks might comfortable in his return to the bench, scoring 27 points on 9-for-20 shooting. 

In another surprising Joe Mazzulla move, the head coach opted to start Ron Harper Jr. on Wednesday and he delivered. Harper scored 11 points, including three triples in the second, grabbed eight rebounds and chipped in three assists. The Rutgers product's most impressive feat however was his defense on Kevin Durant. 

The 13-time All Star scored just 15 points on 4-for-11 shooting in what was an all around poor offensive performance for the 31-18 Rockets. 

The Celtics very well could have tossed in the towel from the start on the back end of a back-to-back in Houston, but despite being undermanned the fight was there from the start, even if it wasn't pretty. 

The Celtics and Rockets were in a rock fight through the first 12 minutes, with Boston leading 18-17 at the end of the frame. It was the lowest scoring opening quarter for the Cs all season. 

It was a slow start from deep as Boston shot just 2-for-13, but White and Pritchard were both able to find five points each in the midst of an ugly offensive quarter. 

Boston did pick it up to start the second as it kickstarted an 11-0 run to build a 23-17 lead. Harper even found some luck from three as he hit two triples in the quarter. White also got rolling with another quick five points to get into double digits. 

On the other side it was still mostly a struggle for a majority of the Rockets, but Jabari Smith Jr. was keeping them in it with his deep shot. Smith knocked through a trio of triples to score 11 in the half and keep pace with Boston. 

The Celtics later rattled off another 11-2 run as Payton Pritchard — coming off the bench for the second game in a row — scored nine points in the second quarter. The guard connected on a step back jumper at the end of the half to bring him to 14 points on 5-for-11 shooting, and give the Cs a 49-42 lead at the break. 

Boston was going to need a little more offense entering the third quarter if it wanted to produce an upset, and White finally came through. The guard scored 14 in the quarter, including four triples that sparked a 28-6 Celtics run. 

What was even more impressive than White’s shooting performance was the effort that the rest of the Celtics gave to help carry the run. Neemias Queta was a beast on the glass against the best rebounding team in the league, grabbing 16 through three quarters and finishing with 19. 

Harper capped off his strong starting lineup debut by slamming home an offensive rebound off one of White’s rare third quarter misses. 

With Houston down 20 at the end of the third, Houston head coach — and former Celtics coach — Ime Udoka appeared he had either had enough or was trying a last gasp effort to get his team back into it as an argument with an official sent him back to the locker room. 

Udoka’s ejection didn’t inspire any Rockets as the Cs eased through the rest of the frame to clinch the shocking win. 

Boston now returns home 15 games over .500 on Friday for a matchup with the Miami Heat in what could potentially be the Celtic debut of Nikola Vučević. Tipoff is set for 7:30 p.m.