HOUSTONThere are plenty of NBA teams that are looking to score points, and then there's the Houston Rockets who see it as more of a mandate than a means towards success.
No team gets buckets the way they do, averaging 104.2 points per game which ranks No. 3 in the NBA.
But just as they taketh team after team to the scoring woodshed, they give it all back - and then some - at the other end of the floor by the tune of a league-worst 104.8 points allowed per game.
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Avoiding a basketball track meet will be among the challenges facing Boston tonight.
But the C's come into this game in a mental state that we haven't seen much of this season with the starting five seemingly finding a nice rhythm, and the bench doing a better job of filling in the holes where they are needed.
"We're getting there," C's wing Courtney Lee told CSNNE.com. "We're definitely headed in the right direction."
And the C's would like to continue building off that progress against a Houston squad that's looking for a second straight win for their head coach and former Celtic Kevin McHale who recently returned to the team following the death of his daughter, Alexandra "Sasha" McHale who died Nov. 24 of complications associated with Lupus.
Here are some of the keys to tonight's game as the Celtics try to win three in a row for only the second time this season.
WHAT TO LOOK FOR: Boston has to use its defense to fuel its offense early, so forcing the youngest team in the NBA to turn the ball over a lot - and convert those miscues into points - will be huge for the Celtics.
MATCHUP TO WATCH: Rajon Rondo vs Jeremy Lin. Rondo is going to get double digit assists, but he has taken his rebounding game to another level with nine or more in each of the last three games. Lin-sanity has died down significantly, but he is looking more like a solid NBA point guard.
PLAYER TO WATCH: Courtney Lee has said this is just another game, but all players feel a pinch of payback when they face a former team for the first time. The best thing he can do is try and slow down Harden for the C's to notch another road win.
STAT TO TRACK: Boston's transition defense will be challenged by a Houston squad that's always looking to run and attack. They come into tonight's game averaging 16.9 fast break points per game which ranks fourth in the league. Meanwhile, Boston is giving up just 12.6 fast break points per game which ranks eighth in the NBA.
