Despite Brown’s miraculous shot, Rockets overpower the Boston Celtics’ in overtime. Just after Brown’s shot it seemed to have swung the momentum in Boston’s favor. But in the end, Houston’s physicality prevailed. The Rockets withstood the blow, maintained their composure throughout overtime, and then walked out of TD Garden with a 111-110 victory.
“I thought the right team won,” Celtics’ coach Brad Stevens admitted after the game. “Their physical presence is real, so I think that when they turned it up a notch physically in the second half, we got stagnant because they were imposing their will on the game, and they can do that. It’s not a knock on our guys necessarily by any means. It’s just that that’s the strength of their team.”
“We have to become a little bit better at holding our ground,” said Stevens. “Part of it is just the brute strength and part of it is picking your spots a little bit better, getting angles a little bit better. Then I think the other thing that’s always a great reminder is that that possession is never over until you have the ball. And they killed us on the glass in the third and fourth quarters from the corners and slashing and crashing. Those were big, huge plays.”
