Houston Rockets Manhandle Boston Celtics 104-90

This game was one of those where the game was honestly not as close as the final score. The Rockets were in command from the opening tip and held on to finish off the Celtics 104-90 to go to 3-0 on the young season. Terrence Jones stepped up big in this game as he did a couple times last year and finished with a double, double with 25 points, 10 rebounds and 2 blocks.

The Rockets set the tone early on and appeared to want to go right at 2^nd year player Kelly Olynyk. The first two possessions isolated Jones to go right at him. As a result, Jones got off to a quick start and Olynyk 2 quick fouls and to the bench.

Isaiah Canaan made his first career start, starting for the injured Patrick Beverley who is day to day with a strained hamstring. Canaan played with composure and did not seemed intimidated by going to head to head with Celtics Rajon Rondo. Canaan hit his first basket of the game, a corner 3 off an around the horn pass from Trevor Ariza.

The Rockets as a group were on fire in the 1^st quarter scoring 37 to the Celtics 22 to take a commanding 15 point lead. Terrence Jones led all scorers in the 1^st with 12 points.

Nov 1, 2014; Houston, TX, USA; Houston Rockets guard

James Harden

(13) dunks the ball during the third quarter against the Boston Celtics at Toyota Center. The Rockets defeated the Celtics 104-90. Mandatory Credit: Troy Taormina-USA TODAY Sports

The Rockets slowed down the scoring in the 2^nd quarter but cranked up the defense to hold the Celtics to only 16 2^nd quarter points and took a 19 point 57-38 lead into halftime. At the break Jones had 15 points and seven rebounds. James Harden was having a solid James Harden type night as well and had 14 points, eight rebounds and four assists at the half.

The Rockets were out-rebounding the Celtics in the first half 28-15. But the big number that jumped out was the Celtics lack of shooters going 0-for-12 from the three-point line. The Celtics would eventually approach the NBA record of three-point futility of 0-for-22 as they got within one shot at 0-for-21 before finally hitting their 1st three-pointer.

In the 2^nd half, once again the Rockets stumbled a bit coming out of the break just as they did in the previous two games, a trend that is starting to be a concern. The Celtics went on a 15-4 run from the 11:13 minute mark to 5:07 to go in the 3^rd, forcing the Rockets to call a timeout and regroup.

James Harden’s slump busting offense led the revival, scoring 11 of his game leading 26 points in the remainder of the quarter. With that the Rockets managed to stretch it back out to a 19-point 81-62 lead by the end of the 3^rd when Harden buried a 3 with 2.9 seconds to go.

Nov 1, 2014; Houston, TX, USA; Houston Rockets forward Terrence Jones (6) scores on a dunk during the fourth quarter against the Boston Celtics at Toyota Center. The Rockets defeated the Celtics 104-90. Mandatory Credit: Troy Taormina-USA TODAY Sports

The Rockets stayed in command through the 3:53 mark in the 4^th and held a 101-78 lead highlighted by a Terrence Jones alley-oop reverse dunk for his 25^th points in the game off of a pass from Kostas Papanikolaou. The Rockets then cleared the bench and Joey Dorsey and Nick Johnson saw their first action of the season.

The Celtics managed to go on a bit of a run to close the game out and cut the lead to 14 and a final score of 104-90 Rockets. Again, the final score was not indicative of how in control of this game the Rockets were from the jump. Jeff Green led the Celtics in scoring with 17.

Harden finished with 26 points, eight rebounds, six assists and four steals and continues to show greater effort on the defensive end. Although not shooting well and going 5-of-14 from the floor, he was a perfect 14-of-14 from the line and can seemingly get to the line anytime he chooses.

As a result of the big leads, the Rockets were able to rest Harden and Howard more than normal, each logging 31 and 33 minutes respectively, vital to keep them fresh in this stretch of four games in six nights in the coming week.

Canaan in his first start finished with nine points off of three three-pointers, tw0 steals and two assists. Besides the threes the key number for Canaan was only two turnovers in 35 minutes predominately facing Celtics point guard Rondo.

Nov 1, 2014; Houston, TX, USA; Boston Celtics guard Rajon Rondo (9) drives to the basket during the second quarter as Houston Rockets guard Isaiah Canaan (0) defends at Toyota Center. Mandatory Credit: Troy Taormina-USA TODAY Sports

Many Rockets fan in the building were anxious to see Rondo who has been the target of many trade rumors regarding the Rockets in the past several months. Rondo finished the game with four points, 10 rebounds, eight assists, three steals and five turnovers. It was a decent game for a player not known as a scorer, but far from the impressive performance that would fuel the trade rumor mill with Rockets fans.

Among other observations from the game:

Donatas Motiejunas had his best game of the young season. D-Mo was off to a very rough start in the Lakers and Jazz games but looked more like an NBA player in this one with six points and five boards in 20 minutes.

Papanikolaou had played well in the first two games, but struggled in this game with six turnovers and some very sloppy play. He finally redeemed himself by hitting a big corner three with 1:32 left in the 3^rd.

Nov 1, 2014; Houston, TX, USA; Houston Rockets guard Trevor Ariza (1) shoots during the first quarter as Boston Celtics center Kelly Olynyk (41) defends at Toyota Center. Mandatory Credit: Troy Taormina-USA TODAY Sports

Ariza continued his strong perimeter shooting and has now hit 10 of 18 threes for 55 percent. It’s still early but so far Ariza is looking like the perfect fit to play with Harden and Howard and the starting unit has looked VERY strong.

Tarik Black left the game with a bruised quad muscle with 4:04 left in the 2^nd and did not return. No word as yet on his status for the Philadelphia 76ers game on Monday.

Dwight Howard also banged knees with someone earlier in the game but played through it. Howard conspicuously left the bench area before the game was finished to get some treatment. After the game, there was some swelling but his status is day-to-day and we should know more by Monday.

The Rockets now hit the road for a back-to-back game trip to Philadelphia this Monday and then onto Miami Tuesday which will be their first decent test of the season. They will have already faced what will likely be four lottery bound teams to start the season.

Jones, Harden And Houston Rockets Manhandle Boston Celtics 104-90

By Travis Oquin | Nov 2, 2014