The Boston Celtics recent road trip in the West had its ups and downs, but three wins in six games was probably better than anyone expected. In the next five games, they will have four at home mixed with a short trip to New York to face the Knicks.
Tonight, they will play against a team that can contend for the NBA championship. The Houston Rockets are 32-14 and 16-7 on the road. Houston will be without center and defensive stalwart Dwight Howard, who's waiting for a second opinion on an injury in his right knee, but they have managed without him before.
James Harden, who's an MVP candidate this season, will most likely carry the heaviest scoring burden for the Rockets. Harden is the leading scorer in the league, averaging 27.3 points per game and 37.0 points over four games before he calmed down and scored 17 points against the Dallas Mavericks on Wednesday.
In Dwight Howard's absence, Houston will rely on power forwards Donatas Motiejunas, Terrence Jones, and Josh Smith in their big man rotation, while undersized center/forward Joey Dorsey will get limited minutes, even if he might get his third start in a row. Rookie Clint Capela has been sent to the D-League to get some playing time.
For the Boston Celtics, Kelly Olynyk remains out with a high ankle sprain. There is no timetable for his return yet, and he might even miss the Rising Stars challenge at the All Star event.
The Celtics showed on their road trip that they are a challenge for even the best in the league as proven by their three-point defeat against the league leaders, the Golden State Warriors. So while their 9-13 home record and 16-28 overall record suggest that this should be one of the Rockets' easier road games, there is a good chance that it will be a hard fought game to the finish.
Much will depend on whether Boston's Avery Bradley will be able to slow down Harden, something that he has done before. In fact, Harden has never scored more than 26 points when these two players have faced each other. He did that the last time the two teams met, November 1st in Houston. Bradley held Harden to two-for-eight shooting and 0-for-3 from behind the arc, but Harden got Bradley in foul trouble (five fouls) and went to the charity stripe where he shot 10-for-10. When Bradley wasn't on the floor, Harden shot three-for-six, two-for-three behind the arc and four-for-four from the free throw line. Houston won that game, 104-90.
Another important matchup will be the benches. While it, at times, has been a weakness for the Rockets, it seems like Josh Smith has helped the reserves find their stride. They played an important role and scored 47 points against Dallas. The Boston bench has averaged 44.2 points over the last 13 games, which leads the league.
Houston has won the last three games against Boston and seven out of the last nine.
