The "Small ball bullies" Houston Rockets left the TD Garden with their sixth consecutive victory after a monstrous 41-point performance by Russell Westbrook who led the Rockets' escape with the W in a Saturday Night Overtime Thriller against Boston Celtics, 111-110.
Despite the poor shooting performance in the three-point territory and a quiet night for James Harden with only 21 points, the Rockets managed to take the win in overtime after a tremendous team effort in both ends of the floor led by Russell Westbrook who thrived to slice the Celtics' defense launching a close to 60% Field Goal percentage (16/27), eight rebounds, five assists, and three steals in just 43 minutes of action and created space for the team to stay in a striking distance as "The Beard" drilled two crucial free throws to seal the deal in Boston.
Having the fewest first-half points of the season, the Rockets trailed against the hot-shooting Boston Celtics who displayed a 47.7% field goal percentage in the first half, led by Marcus Smart who replaced the injured Kemba Walker and acted as the playmaker the Celtics hold the Rockets to just 45 points in the half and extended their lead to as much as 17 points and closing the half up by 11 points, 56-45.
Down by 11 points, The "Small ball bullies" exploded in the 3rd quarter launching a 36-22 run led by Russell Westbrook who slid through the defense of the Celtics and attacked openings in the paint which resulted to 46 points in the shaded area with the help of Danuel House Jr. who scored with multiple pick and rolls. But the support from undersized big man Robert Covington put the Houston in the lead, after dropping a double-double performance with 16 points, 16 rebounds, and three swats protecting the rim for the small ball bullies as they outplayed the Celtics in the third frame.
Starting the 4th quarter with a 1 point lead, the Rockets managed to stay close with the Celtics as they answer every shot of Jason Tatum who registered 32 points, 13 rebounds, five assists, and two blocks the whole game. Then, with 5.1 seconds remaining time in the regulation period, PJ Tucker fouled Tatum pushing the 21-year-old power forward to take the shots in the stripe but he had to miss the second free throw after missing the first attempt as well, tying the game after trailing by 3 points, and as they battle for the rebound Jaylen Brown got the ball and fired a clutch triple bringing the game to overtime,104-104.
Russell Westbrook, however, was not done yet as he orchestrated an "and one" to take the lead at the start of the overtime period. Boston, on the other side of the court, refused to back down as they ran the lanes and managed to take a point lead after Center Daniel Theiss slammed it home but with only 24 seconds remaining James Harden drove to the lane and got the foul and making the two free throw shots to finally clinch the win in Boston.
James Harden tallied 21 points and 8 assists as he helped the Rockets to get their 10th win in the last 12 games.
Rockets' next game will be against the New York Knicks on Monday.
