Fournier, Williams ignite Celtics in 118-102 win over Houston

At a time when there’s little the Celtics can count on — at least with any consistency — nights like this one are a treasure, regardless of the opponent.

Houston came into Friday night’s game with the second-fewest wins in the league (13) and left that way, thanks to the Celtics’ 118-102 win, snapping their latest two-game losing streak.

Beyond the customary 26 points from Jayson Tatum and 22 from Jaylen Brown, the supporting cast blew the game open.

Evan Fournier, 1-for-6 heading into the fourth, found his range with a six-trey, 20-point quarter to help blow the margin open. He finished with 23 points, including 7-for-11 3-point shooting.

Robert Williams, with a career-high 21-point performance on 9-for-9 shooting, also fell just shy of his first career triple-double with nine rebounds and eight assists.

Brown’s 13-point third quarter, with Tatum christening the stretch with the Celtics’ last five points, staked the Celtics to an 82-70 lead.

Williams opened the fourth with his seventh straight shot, but like Brown in the third quarter, said something after his make to earn a technical foul. But he dunked the next time down, too, this time off a Grant Williams feed for an 86-71 edge.

Fournier, 1-for-6 to this point, buried his second trey of the night, and then his third off a Robert Williams kick-out. Avery Bradley staunched the flow with a 3, only for Fournier to hit from deep again, now with his fourth trey.

Fournier would hit two more bombs, blowing the quarter open.

Though ragged at times, and still surrendering too many easy baskets, the Celtics carried a 52-44 lead into halftime. Tatum had 13 points on 4-for-9 shooting, and Robert Williams, the first-half glue, was 5-for-5 from the floor as part of his 10-point, eight-rebound, four-assist run.

They immediately gave up an easy drive to Kevin Porter Jr. to open the third quarter, but then kicked out for their first 10-point lead (59-49) of the night on a Tatum transition dunk.

Tatum then came out of a timeout with a 3-pointer (the Celtics immediately gave up a 3 down the other end), forcing another Houston timeout.

Houston called timeout with 6:27 left in the quarter, and the Celtics lead now 64-52 thanks to a Williams dunk off the break. Brown, after a series of frustrating misses, heated up, though he picked up a technical foul after giving the Celtics a 68-53 lead.

But Brown also scored the next time down, this time from the baseline, followed by Tatum’s fourth 3-pointer of the night, and the Celtics now led, 73-55.

Brown soon followed with a tomahawk dunk. The Celtics led by as many as 18 points, but Houston cut that to 12 (82-70) by the end of the quarter, which Tatum capped with a drive and a 3-pointer.

from Boston Herald https://ift.tt/3wkoZCy