BOSTON – Remember Michael Beasley? Yet another bust at the second pick in the NBA Draft, Beasley came out of seemingly nowhere early in the fourth quarter for an offensive explosion that epitomized his erratic mess of a career.
Beasley attempted 11 field goals in a six-minute span, but made enough of them to keep the Rockets ahead of Terry Rozier and the Celtics. But it was James Harden who put the game to bed.
His shot selection may be horrid, but he is just great enough to make it work. When the game turned into a defensive struggle over the last six minutes, the Rockets went iso to Harden over and over. He took step back after step back, scoring the only five points in the game from the 3:10 mark to the 0:35 mark and the final eight points for Houston.
The Celtics had a last gasp chance with less than a minute left, when Jared Sullinger kept rebounding his own misses over Dwight Howard. Sullinger got the fourth attempt to fall, but Marcus Smart flew in and hit the rim as the ball went through. After an offensive interference call erased the basket, the Celtics were looking at a a near impossible task to close the gap.
Then Sullinger hit a layup. Then Patrick Beverly fell out of bounds. Isaiah Thomas hit a layup to make it a four point game, but the Rockets successfully inbounded to Harden to seal it. Evan Turner picked up a technical foul to add insult to injury as the Celtics watched their 14-game home winning streak fade away.
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