The Boston Celtics defeated the Houston Rockets, 120 - 109, at TD Garden on Wednesday evening. The Celtics (27 - 18) could n't quite keep up with the fast - paced Rockets (34 - 15) in the first half, but they made up for it after intermission. Boston outscored their visitors by a 68 - 51 margin over the third and fourth periods, despite the game being knotted at 98 as late as the 5:12 mark of the final quarter. That's when Isaiah Thomas drained two clutch free throws after a flagrant - 1 foul on James Harden for hitting Jonas Jerebko in the face, and then followed those points with a jumper and a driving hook. The Celtics then scored 16 points the rest of the way while holding the Rockets to 11, sealing the double - digit home win. Both teams had a hard time hanging on to the ball, as Houston was guilty of 17 turnovers while Boston gave it away 18 times. James Harden led the way for the Rockets with a 30 - point, 12 - assist double - double that also included six rebounds, a steal and a block. Ryan Anderson produced 19 points, five rebounds, an assist and a steal. Trevor Ariza and Clint Capela followed with matching 12 - point efforts, with the former adding two rebounds, two assists and a steal, and the latter registering seven boards, an assist and two blocks. All of Ariza's points notably came on four three - pointers. Sam Dekker paced the second unit with 15 points, four rebounds, a steal and a block, while Montrezl Harrell tallied 11 points, three assists, two rebounds and a steal in a reserve role as well. Isaiah Thomas continued his stellar play while leading the Celtics with 38 points, nine assists, five rebounds and a steal. With Avery Bradley (Achilles) still out, his usage continues to be at a sky - high rate, as evidenced by Wednesday's 27 shot attempts. Jae Crowder stepped up with a 23 - point, 10 - rebound double - double that also included four assists and a steal. Al Horford supplied a near double - double of 20 points, nine assists, three rebounds, three steals and two blocks, and had a first - half ending buzzer - beating three - pointer. Jonas Jerebko and Jaylen Brown, making starts in place of Amir Johnson and Bradley, respectively, could only combine for nine points and took just seven shot attempts between them. Marcus Smart, who went to the bench in favor of Brown, and Gerald Green led the second unit with matching seven - point tallies. The Rockets next travel to Philadelphia to do battle with the Sixers on Friday night, while the Celtics remain home to tangle with the Orlando Magic on Friday evening as well.
["TeamStat(G,'Celtics') has 18 Losses ,has 120 Total points ,has 18 Turnovers ,has 27 Wins ."
 "TeamStat(G,'Rockets') has 15 Losses ,has 109 Total points ,has 17 Turnovers ,has 34 Wins ."]