The Way Kevin Durant And The Rockets Whooped The Celtics Ass With Ease Was A Great Reminder That There Are Levels To The NBA

Brian Babineau. Getty Images.

While every team may be in a different place in terms of contention, rebuilding, etc, the one thing everyone does have in common is the grind of the NBA schedule. That thing is a real motherfucker that many players talk about being one of the hardest parts of NBA life. It's a challenge, and one that requires extreme discipline to handle. 

It's why there's such a thing called a "scheduled loss" in the NBA, something that every single team in the league will deal with throughout the next 6+ months. Usually, those pop up when you're coming off a B2B and have played 5 games in 7 days. It doesn't really matter who the team is, being in that spot usually spells death in the NBA, especially when you're going up against a rested team with talent.

Coming off their prayer of a 1 point win against the Sixers on Friday night, this is the spot the Celts found themselves in last night. On the second night of a B2B, playing their 5th game in 7 nights, against a Rockets team that hadn't played since Wednesday night.

How do we think things went?

An ass kicking of epic proportions. In fact, it was the 3rd largest ass whooping of the entire Joe Mazzulla Era

The funny thing about that list? The top spot against the Bucks came on the 2nd night of a B2B after an OT win in MIN the night before, and was the 5th game in 7 nights.

The OKC ass kicking was just a normal second game of a West Coast trip ass whooping, so that didn't qualify.

But as you can see, 2 of the 3 largest losses in the Joe Mazzulla Era have come in this situation of a B2B/5 in 7. There's no sense in getting worked up about it, that's the NBA schedule. You can go through every team in the league, and my guess is they'd have similar stats. It's just one of the realities of the long NBA season.

Now, don't let this context around last night confuse you. The Celtics played like dogshit, and when you're up against a title contending team with the best offense in the NBA and insane size 1-5, this is what happens. It's not as if the Celts are bad on B2Bs, in fact, they are now 31-11 all time on the second night of a B2B under Joe. The context helps explain why they may have had shot legs, but it doesn't absolve them of their mistakes, lack of execution etc. 

You take this ass kicking on the chin, burn the tape and move on. But before we do, let's talk about what we saw.

The Good

- Considering the fact that the Celtics never had a single lead in this game, only tied the score twice (at 4-4 and 7-7), and trailed by as many as 36 points, I'm not exactly sure what I would even classify as "good" from this game. The Rockets dominated in pretty much every facet of this game, so I guess all I'm left with are these sweet plays by Hugo Gonzalez because frankly, they were really the only thing that brought me joy over the 48 minutes

Is it time to maybe expand Hugo's role while he's on the floor? Maybe give him a few looks a game and not just minutes for defense/chaos? His deep ball looks promising, and you probably didn't even realize he's shooting 40% from deep over his last 3 games. No, you don't need to focus on the fact that it's only a 2-5 3PA sample size. Don't let the facts get in the way of good propaganda, that's Day 1 stuff. 

- I suppose we should also mention the fact that Baylor Scheierman continues to play well in his minutes. Even though 99% of last night came with the game already out of reach, he did finish with 17 points on 6-7 (4-5) shooting, and if there's one thing I can say about Baylor's early season, it's the fact that he's holding his own both defensively and as a rebounder. 

Look, if this year is about throwing the young guys into the fire and seeing who can sink or swim with their opportunity, then that includes seeing what Baylor can do in his limited spots. And if we're being honest about it, those minutes have not been all that bad. Not game-changing by any means, but solid. He's gone out there and filled his role/done the job that was required of him which is really all you can ask for from a player in his spot. Before last night, that was to defend and rebound. Last night, we finally saw the shooting

It's just something to file away in the back of your mind as we continue throughout the season and the young unproven guys continue to get a chance to prove they deserve to be a part of the future. It won't always look pretty, and even when the opportunities come in blowouts, I still find them important. We have such a low sample of minutes for all these guys, I believe every rep matters. Given how rough things looked at times over the summer and then in the preseason for Baylor, I do think he deserves the acknowledgment that his NBA season minutes so far have been fine to mostly fine. That's what we in the business call progress. 

- Alright, we can move on.

The Bad

- I can't ever remember seeing a game in which the Celts took 26 more FGA than their opponent (103 vs 77) yet lost the game by 27 points. I know I'm not a huge math guy and that I went to ASU for a reason, but I watch a lot of NBA basketball, and that's not exactly how things tend to shake out with that type of possession difference. 

So what the hell happened?

Well, for starters, last night marked the 5th time in 7 games that the Celtics ended the night taking more 2s (59 FGA) than 3PA (44). The Celtics are now 1-4 in those games. But remember, this is how the "smart" people say the Celtics should be playing, and that all they do is jack up 3s which is why they lose.

The problem with that, is so far this season, the percentage of their FGA in losses being 3PA is down to just 47%. That's a decent drop from the 52% last year. Not to mention, things like midrange shooting FGA are up to 7th in the NBA, despite shooting 40% (19th). 

So, color me shocked that in 2025, taking more 2s than 3s and drastically increasing your midrange FGA isn't translating to wins, especially on nights where your opponent can't miss from either 2FG or 3P

But don't worry. You'll continue to hear about how the Celts are doing nothing but shooting 3PA. There's no offensive adjustment by Joe etc, and if only he were smart enough to have the team take more 2s and midrange FGAs, they'd be winning these games.

Meanwhile, pretty much everything about how they are playing this season is different. From the approach, to the massive drop in isolation/post up offense in favor of more P&R and off screen offense. Their paint FGAs are way up.

But notice how you don't hear anything about this stuff? All you hear is "all the Celts do is jack up 3s". Meanwhile, the Celts are doing exactly what all these people have been screaming about, and they are losing. When they played the way those people hate, they had two blowout wins. Weird! 

- Sometimes, teams are just on a heater and there's nothing you can do about it. The Rockets finished with 54/55% splits, and their 19-29 from deep was one of the most outrageous things I've ever seen. When you're witnessing that type of magnet ball go against you, all you can do is throw you hands up and call it a night. Some nights, teams are just blessed with that type of shooting night, and with fresh legs it's not a shock the Rockets had it. They're atop the league in 3P%, but even still, 19-29 is a little insane. 

Some were wide open from the corners due to the Celtics being in rotation, other times it was just KD being KD, but overall it was the perfect mix of pretty pathetic defense combined with molted lava level shooting. When you put those two things together, that's how you end up being -15 points in the 3P margin. 

- Without Jayson Tatum's size and length defensively, nobody and I mean nobody was able to provide any sort of resistance while guarding KD. Just a masterclass in shotmaking by one of the greatest to ever do it

It didn't even feel like KD broke a sweat. To me, this helps point out that, unfortunately, the Celts' roster is the roster. Sometimes there are going to be games where there is no solve defensively, and that's just how life is going to be. Matchups matter in the NBA, and without 6'10 Tatum available, chances are you're going to get cooked by Kevin Durant. 

- Rebounding was obviously a huge area of concern heading in, and I'd say things went about as well as expected against a team with this much size. The total rebounding numbers were lopsided 53-36, but that's mostly because the Rockets never missed.

When they did miss, they still finished with 12 OREB / 15 2nd chance points. That's not as bad as I thought it would be, but we did see both Steven Adams and Clint Capela clean up on the offensive glass (7 OREB) which wasn't a surprise. 

While they played limited minutes, it was a tab concerning that guys like Jaylen/White/Pritchard all had 2 or fewer rebounds. Queta, the starting center, finished with 4. 

As we know, if you don't rebound, you lose. That's a tale as old as time. 

- Here's the thing about the 35-7 FTA discrepancy. It's not that the Celtics weren't fouling. They absolutely were, and honestly, their inability to defend without fouling is a big-time early-season concern. They need to get better in that department, or things like this will continue.

The issue was the consistency in terms of what's being allowed/called on both ends of the floor. This was not a game in which the Celts did nothing but shoot 3PA while the Rockets were aggressive. The Celts finished with more paint FGA (48-33). They finished with more points in the paint (44-34). 

In terms of drives to the basket, the Celts had 53 last night, to the Rockets' 30. The difference? They were awarded fouls on 20% of those drives (12 FTA total), whereas the Celts just 1.4% (2 FTA total).

Sorry, but that's a consistency issue, especially when both HOU and BOS average right around the same amount of fouls per game.

So, when you add up the 19-29 from deep and the 25-7 FTM difference, that's how you end up getting absolutely smoked. 

The Ugly

- The rational side of your brain says things are still early and there's no need to really panic or be all that concerned.

The irrational side of your brain can't get over this stat

There's really no real way to spinzone things. The shooting production of both Derrick White and Payton Pritchard has been brutal. Another 2-11 (1-5) for Derrick in this game, and while Payton has been OK in the paint to start the year, Derrick not so much. Add in how disastrous their collective 3P shooting has been, and the Celts simply will not survive with this level of production.

Eventually, Jaylen's shooting will come down to earth. He's not going to shoot 50% from three all year. And given the shot creation limitations of the rest of the roster, the Celts simply cannot afford both DWhite and Pritchard to be the worst three-point shooters in the NBA. That just cannot happen. 

It also didn't help that while both of those guys were bricks, Anfernee Simons came in and finished just 1-6 (1-3) in his minutes. The only "other" to show any sort of consistency shooting the basketball is Hauser, and even he has limitations. Now through 7 games, I'd say the production of "the others" around Jaylen to start the year has been very, very poor. This was always on the table with everyone sliding up a spot in the hierarchy, and I'm not sure what the solve is, considering a majority of their looks are open/wide open. You just have to wait it out I guess. 

With Derrick, it's not just his 3s either. He's only shooting 15% (!!!!!!!) in the paint to start the year and only 46% (!!!!!!!) in the restricted area. Nothing, and I mean nothing is dropping for him to start the season, and as the #2 scoring option, that's kind of significant. 

In the end, you flush this game down the toilet. It's a weird headspace to be in knowing that games and results like this actually help you and that this was about as classic a schedule loss as you'll find in the NBA, but that's the truth. Normally, a performance like this against a contender would annoy me for days, but now? I'm ready for tomorrow night against UTA. The Celts crawled out of their 0-3 hole, had some nice wins against PHI/CLE, and lost a B2B against a contender. Oh well! 

What we'll soon find out is how much of this ass whooping was schedule-related and how much of it was more Celtics issues-related, and my guess is somewhat of a mix of both.