The Boston Celtics’ hot start to the season hit a brick wall on Saturday night, as Kevin Durant and the Houston Rockets delivered a merciless beatdown at TD Garden. Leading by as much as 36 points and dominating from tip-off to buzzer, the Rockets cruised to a 128-101 victory, exposing a fatigued Celtics squad fresh off a grueling back-to-back.
Boston had been scrappy in their first six games, but the toll of a demanding early schedule—capped by a nail-biting win over the Philadelphia 76ers just 24 hours prior—finally caught up. Houston, rested and ready after two days off, outrebounded the Celtics 53-36, drew 35 free throws to Boston’s meager seven, and torched the nets with a scorching 65.5% from beyond the arc. They even swatted away 11 shots, both season-highs for any Celtics opponent.
Payton Pritchard, one of Boston’s key contributors in the absence of star Jayson Tatum, didn’t mince words post-game. “Maybe we made fatigued decisions on the court,” he told reporters. “We came ready to play, but we got popped tonight. Move on and get ready for the next one.” He added a dose of perspective: “Sometimes, even when we had a championship-level team, you got popped on some nights like this. And you just turn the page… It’s 82 games. It’s a lot of traveling, a lot of back-to-backs. They came off two nights rest and killed us.”
Head coach Joe Mazzulla echoed the sentiment, keeping his focus forward. “Obviously, (Saturday) wasn’t our night,” he said. “Rockets played well—good team, well-coached. They were prepared, and this wasn’t our night. So to me, that happens over the course of the season, and it’ll be more important about how we respond on Monday.”
Amid the lopsided loss, which snapped a three-game winning streak, Mazzulla turned to his bench early in the fourth, giving rare minutes to rookies like Baylor Scheierman and Jordan Walsh, plus two-way players Ron Harper Jr. and Amari Williams. Scheierman shone brightest, dropping 17 points on 6-for-7 shooting (including 4-for-5 from three), grabbing five rebounds, and snagging two steals in 23 minutes—a silver lining in an otherwise dismal night.
But the real buzz from the evening came from the sidelines, where Durant, a survivor of the same brutal Achilles injury that sidelined Tatum, offered rare insight into the Celtics forward’s rehab journey. Durant, who tore his Achilles in the 2019 NBA Finals and endured an 18-month recovery, marveled at Tatum’s progress just months after surgery.
“I wouldn’t say I felt that confident to dunk the ball (six months after surgery),” Durant shared with reporters via MassLive.com. “I don’t remember if I was that far along in my journey, but medicine has advanced so much since I had mine. Jayson looks like he’s just killing the rehab, and he looks great. You don’t see a limp. For somebody who just had Achilles surgery in the playoffs, he looks amazing.”
Tatum, aiming for a remarkably swift return—potentially even this season—has impressed even a veteran like Durant with his dedication. “Hopefully, he continues to progress and gets better and back on the court soon,” Durant continued. “The game misses him, the NBA misses him—just an all-world talent, man. So looking forward to having him back on the floor.”
Durant weighed in on Tatum’s open-ended timeline: “I think it’s feasible, but it’s good to have that option on the table… It’s such a long ways away from now. He’s just taking it day by day, see what happens with the team, with his body, and make a decision later. It’s cool to keep it open… He’s a gamer. I’m sure if he can get out there, no matter what the team’s record is, he’s going to play.”
While Tatum grinds through rehab, Boston’s backcourt has shouldered the load—and struggled mightily from deep. Pritchard and Derrick White, thrust into bigger roles, are ice-cold from three-point range seven games in. White’s hitting just 25.0% (17-for-68), while Pritchard’s even worse at 17.8% (9-for-50)—dead last and second-to-last among players with 35+ attempts.
The duo combined for a dismal 2-for-9 against Houston and 3-for-16 in the Philly thriller. Pritchard’s been efficient inside the arc (66.7% on twos), but White’s scuffling there too (38.8%). Last season, they drained 520 threes combined—expect some bounce-back as the Celtics face a lighter week with home tilts against the Utah Jazz on Monday and Washington Wizards on Wednesday.
For now, the loss stings, but Durant’s endorsement of Tatum’s rehab? That’s the kind of ultimate co-sign that fuels hope in Beantown. As Pritchard put it: “They kind of punked us. We’ve got to get ready for the next one.”