BOSTON — Ime Udoka saw Jaylen Brown hone his playmaking, scoring and defensive skills as Celtics head coach. Brown used them all in a dominant effort over Udoka’s Rockets, scoring 32 points with six rebounds, two assists, two steals and two blocks, falling into Udoka midway through the game stumbling ball out-of-bounds.
“I was just catching him more than hugging him,” Udoka joked. “He’s a strong guy.”
Udoka wished his players flashed that physicality against Brown and Jayson Tatum, or that teams would’ve defended the Celtics’ stars so lightly during his tenure. He acknowledged the Rockets entering on the second half of a back-to-back, returning Dillon Brooks after a long absence and Tari Eason missing the game all impacting Houston in its 145-113 drubbing at the hands of Brown, Tatum and the new personnel around them.
The Rockets hoped showing them crowds at the rim could stop them like it used to. Instead, it only confused Houston’s young defenders not used to selling out in the paint them making rotations. That led to Brown and Tatum nearly achieving their 27th 30-30 game, Tatum falling short of 30 points due to his fourth quarter ejection.
“It’s what I saw for a year, anyway,” Udoka said. “The way they’re talented and can score. I didn’t love our physicality, understanding how we made them a little bit too comfortable. A lot of those walk-in shots were uncontested, and so knowing that, you want to break their rhythm, be a little bit more physical.”
Tatum went to the bench scoreless after his five-minute stint to begin the game, while Brown pulled up from mid-range for his first make, blew up Alperen Sengun sets defensively and took a steal back for an and-one finish in transition. He then set Kristaps Porzingis up in the pick-and-pop for one of his two early threes, but Houston found success attacking Porzingis on the other end, leading after a 7-for-11 start while Boston shot 1-for-4 from deep.
The Celtics would break out for a 24-for-47 (51%) explosion from three by the end of the game, targeting Sengun with a Derrick White and Porzingis two-man game to close the first ahead 35-31 despite Cam Whitmore’s bench burst. Amen Thompson received an ear-full from Udoka for allowing a Tatum pull-up three at the buzzer, before the rookie provided some energy defensively and on the offensive glass in to the second.
Tatum’s jump shots kept Boston ahead by one, before the Celtics ripped off a 25-8 run into the third quarter that pulled the Celtics ahead by 20 and eventually by as many as 36 points. According to Sean Grande, Boston led by 30-plus for the seventh time over the team’s last 15 games.
“The third quarter, that was the physical, the defense, that’s who we are, that’s who we need to be,” Mazzulla said. “We had moments of that and moments of offensive execution in the first half. That’s a good win, but we need to live in the space of, we can get better. Not that anything’s wrong, it doesn’t need to be a big deal, but if we can live in the space of, we’re a good team, but it’s not good enough, I think that’s a healthy space to be.”
Brown embodied that by impacting every area of the game, breaking into a rare two-man game with Tatum before halftime before his steal set himself up through his teammate for a long two. He then rose up and blocked Jabari Smith Jr. at the rim to key an 18-8 finish into halftime. Into the third, he posted-up, flushed a pull-up three and converted a reverse layup on the run through Brooks’ foul. He even got off-ball in the corner to take advantage of Jrue Holiday posting-up and finding him for three in a location that’s become less common for the Jays.
He blocked Smith again and drained a three following Porzingis’ handoff, Boston now manipulating the pressure the big man drew to go ahead by 22. The Rockets answered with a 10-2 run, Thompson blocking Luke Kornet at the rim and sending Smith Jr. out for a transition dunk to nearly revive the game. Boston turned up the rim pressure again, setting up Brown free throws, a Porzingis dunk, threes by Brown, Sam Hauser and Payton Pritchard. Brown took a seat with five fouls before the third ended, but watched the Celtics pull off a fifth-chance Pritchard three following four offensive rebounds.
Udoka saw enough, sitting his starters and vowing for a tighter battle in a week at Houston. Walking down the opposite tunnel, Sam Cassell, who replaced Udoka’s departing former top assistants alongside Mazzulla this year, mused about Boston’s start.
“The last time I was 30-9, I was in Houston.”
