The Boston Celtics suffered a brutal home loss against the Houston Rockets, trailing by as much as 30 points before making the score more respectable at 115-104.
But for head coach Brad Stevens, the game had already been decided midway through the second quarter.
Brad Stevens: "The game was lost in the first 30 minutes."
— Brian Robb (@BrianTRobb) March 3, 2019
Kyrie Irving finished with 21 points. He also had nine rebounds and six assists. Al Horford 19 points and six boards.
This is now the Celtics' fifth loss in six games.
James Harden ran rings around Boston's defense, finishing with 42 points on 14-31 shooting, to go along with seven rebounds, four assists, and two steals. Eric Gordon added 32 points, three boards, and three assists, while Chris Paul had 15 points and 12 assists.
The Celtics remain at the fifth spot in the Eastern Conference with a 38-25 record, but they are in danger of not getting home-court advantage in the first round of the playoffs, as the Milwaukee Bucks, Toronto Raptors, Indiana Pacers, and Philadelphia 76ers are all comfortably seated in the first four spots.
Boston remains confident that they will play better come playoffs, but they haven't shown anything to back that up. For them, the regular season doesn't matter anymore, but if they won't get any type of momentum, they could see themselves having a brief postseason stint.
With 19 games left, the Celtics are running out of time in terms of solving their greatest issues on and off the court. If they are unable to turn things around, this will be a disappointing season altogether.
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