Kevin Garnett surpasses Shaquille O’Neal’s rebounding record as Boston Celtics edge Houston Rockets: NBA
On Tuesday night, Boston Celtics improved to a 5 game winning streak after edging out the Houston Rockets, 97-92 in the extra time at TD Garden.
Celtics made a dramatic recovery from a second half slumber by overcoming a double digit deficit in the last frame and nailing the game in the extra time after wards.
Boston were paced by Paul Pierce who tallied a game high 30 points, while guard Ray Allen was also on song with 21points. Kevin Garnett chipped in with a double-double as he had 13 points and 13 rebounds, surpassing Shaquille O’Neal
at the 12th spot in the list of most rebounds made (13,000), in the C’s 20th victory of the season.
Rockets had 6 players in double figure score but they skidded down to a 4 game losing streak. Luis Scola collected a double-double with 18 points and 14 boards while Kyle Lowry had 18 points in the game. Forward Chandler Parsons
netted 12 and Samuel Dalembert recorded 17 rebounds and 11 points. Kevin Martin and Goran Dragic shared 11 points apiece.
Despite the fact Rockets dominated in the paint, 32-19, in the second half they lost their double digit lead in the last frame.
Celtics coach praised the dramatic comeback by his team.
"We're starting to play good basketball and we're starting to win basketball games when we don't play good basketball, and that may be more important."
Deep into the opening frame the scores were tied at 15 each but Rockets raced off to a 13-6 run to cap off the segment with a 28-21 advantage. The stalemate once again spawned in the 2nd frame at 35 apiece with 4:18
in hand before the C’s reeled off a 7-0 run to take a 42-35 lead. They managed to conclude the segment after augmenting their lead ahead at 46-40.
Early into the 3rd frame Boston managed to take a double digit lead 55-45 but with 3:04 in hand Houston succeeded in reducing the gap to 61-57. Rockets shifted gears deep through the 3rd period and raced off to an 11-3
spurt to carve out a 68-63 lead by the end of period.
Midway through the 4th, Rockets augmented their lead to 10 points, 80-70 but went ice cold after wards. The Greens however turned their intensity on big time and sprinted to a 14-2 run, slacking off the 10 point deficit.
With 35.4 seconds in hand, C’s took a 84-82 lead but Goran Dragic knocked down a jumper to tie the scores at 84 each as the time expired. Boston rushed off to a 7-2 run in the extra time to claim 91-86 advantage but Lowry narrowed
that down to 91-90 with a couple of freebies and layup. He then made another two, but that was sandwiched between two free throws and a jumper by Pierce as with 1:16 left on the clock, Boston led by 95-92. Afterwards Allen connected on a pair from charity
stripe and concluded the game at 97-92.
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