Second Half rally not enough for Celtics in loss to Rockets

Brandon Bass and Marcus Thornton each scored 17 points and Tayshaun Prince helped them out with 13 more, but since Donatas Motiejunas racked up 26 of his own and James Harden was also up there with 14, the Celtics fell to the Rockets, 93-87, Friday night at the TD Garden.

Bass shot 6/11 and Thornton 6/13 from the field in this one, accounting for a large portion of the Celtics' total. Besides them, Prince too contributed with a 6/10 performance, and Tyler Zeller collected a team-high 11 rebounds.

The Rockets utterly dominated this contest's first half, leading by eight after the first quarter and 18 at halftime to put themselves in position for an easy victory. However, thanks to a 22-9 victory in the third, the Celtics were right back in it going into the last 12 minutes, where they would keep things close through the final buzzer. 

The Celtics are now 16-29 on the season, 2.5 games behind the Bobcats for the conference's eight seed. They will look to change the course of this homestand Sunday when they face the Heat, the seventh best team in the East by record.