Rockets at Celtics
The Houston Rockets will try to establish some measure of consistency when they continue a five-game road trip at the Boston Celtics on Wednesday. The Rockets have been exchanging wins and losses for the past seven games (3-4) and five of the results have been decided by at least 13 points.
After opening the road trip with a 24-point win at Memphis, Houston dropped a 127-114 decision at Milwaukee on Monday. "We had a really good game last game (at Memphis) defensively, and this game we just let up," guard James Harden told reporters after falling a rebound shy of another triple-double. "In order to get where we want to go, we have to be consistent on that end of the floor." The Celtics will be trying to avoid their first four-game losing streak of the season and looking for some improvement on the defensive end as well. They have given up an average of 122.3 points during their three-game slide and Washington shot 57.8 percent in handing Boston a 123-108 defeat Tuesday night.
TV: 7:30 p.m. ET, ROOT (Houston), CSN New England (Boston)
ABOUT THE ROCKETS (34-14): Harden had 26 points, 12 assists and nine rebounds in Monday's loss while committing 11 of his team's 22 turnovers. "We just turned the ball over a little bit carelessly, and they answered on the other end with it," forward Ryan Anderson told the media after a 16-point effort. Anderson had returned from an illness to reclaim his starting spot in favor of Sam Dekker, who had a career-high 30 points against Memphis in his first career start but dipped to four points on 2-of-7 shooting against the Bucks.
ABOUT THE CELTICS (26-18): Center Al Horford was a bright spot in Tuesday's loss with 22 points on 9-of-12 shooting, and he is 4-for-5 from long distance in the last two games after going 2-for-13 in the previous two. The Celtics have lost four of their last six games without guard Avery Bradley, who will continue to sit with an Achilles injury. Boston is 6-1 in the second half of its last seven back-to-backs.
BUZZER BEATERS
1. The Rockets have won three straight at Boston and six of the last seven meetings overall.
2. Houston leads the NBA with 14.7 made 3-pointers per game, while the Celtics are third (12.0).
3. Harden had 37 points, eight rebounds, seven assists and 10 turnovers in a 107-106 win over Boston at home on Dec. 5.