Rough shooting night leads to Rockets falling to the Celtics in Boston

After falling to the Brooklyn Nets during their previous game, Christian Wood placed the blame on himself. Wood said he wasn’t aggressive enough for his team, especially midway through the fourth quarter with the Houston Rockets in striking distance to secure their 14th victory of the season.

Friday night, Wood was more than aggressive. He scored a team-high 19 points (8-16 FG, 1-2 3PT) amid a double-double performance with 10 rebounds. But Wood’s aggressiveness did not result in a victory for the Rockets, as Houston sustained a 118-102 loss to the Boston Celtics inside TD Garden.

With the loss, the Rockets fell to 13-35 on the season while dropping their third consecutive game.

It was a frigid night from the field, no matter where the Rockets shot.

They registered one of their worst shooting performances of the season as Houston shot 43.0 percent from the field, 33.3 percent from behind the arc. But what hurt the Rockets the most in Boston was their subpar shooting from the charity stripe. The Rockets missed 10 of their 26 attempts from the free-throw line — missing out on 10 additional points.

In addition to the Rockets’ rough shooting, Houston committed 14 turnovers that resulted in 32 points for Boston.

“Their [Boston] defense was really good tonight. The pace that they play at, we kinda fell into that. We kinda got lulled into a slow walk-up game, and, that’s not us. The results were 102 points — which isn’t good at all.” — Stephen Silas

As the Rockets struggled to buy a basket, the Celtics’ shooting night was a complete 180. Led by their two-time All-Star Jayson Tatum, who scored a game-high 26 points, the Celtics shot 52.3 percent from the floor, 41.5 percent from deep. Boston opened the game connecting on four of their first five 3-point attempts, which contributed to the Celtics taking a 52-44 lead into the half.

The Rockets opened the second half staying close to the Celtics until midway through the third quarter. Boston ended the period on a 9-0 run to take an 82-70 lead into the fourth quarter.

Evan Fournier made it nearly impossible for the Rockets to attempt a comeback. In just his third game with the Celtics, Fournier scored 20 of his 23 points in the fourth quarter while connecting on all six of his shots from downtown.

Boston’s Robert Williams added in a career-high 20 points, nine rebounds and eight assists. He was perfect from the field connecting on all nine of his shot attempts.

Other than Wood, Avery Bradley was the only other Rocket who put together a decent offensive performance. The former Celtic added in 15 points and pulled down half a dozen rebounds in the loss.

Kevin Porter Jr. (12) and Kelly Olynyk (10) also scored in double figures for Houston, but the duo combined to shoot 7-of-17 from the field, 2-for-8 from deep.

“I felt like I was asserting myself. My teammates did a great job getting me the ball, and it is up to me to finish. But overall, I think I did a great job tonight.” — Wood

Following the loss, the Rockets will try to end their three-game losing streak on Sunday, for an Easter day showdown against the New Orleans Pelicans. Tip-off is slated for 7:00 P.M. CT inside the Toyota Center.