By GREG MENGELT
The win was the first in three games for the Celtics and the first head coaching victory for Ime Udoka.
“I just got a water shower in there from the guys, and the game ball, but I told them, ‘It’s overdue. You guys took too long to get it,’” he said following the victory.
Langford was a late scratch to the game after reporting left calf tightness. Brown, the team’s leading scorer at 27.5 points per game, also missed the win with left patella tendinopathy.
Boston trailed 30-22 after one quarter but took a 2-point lead into the halftime break. The Celtics broke the game open with a 10-0 run run in the third quarter. The game-changing spurt took only 80 seconds.
Tatum had nine rebounds to go with his 31 points. Grant Williams was 6 for 8 from the floor, including 5-of-7 from behind the 3-point arc, for 18 points off the Celtics bench. Boston’s bench outscored the Rockets 31-14.
Al Horford finished with a double-double of 17 points and 10 boards and Dennis Schoeder contributed 18 points and five assists to the Celtics’ win.
Rookie Jalen Green led Houston with 30 points.
The Celtics are back in action Monday when they travel to Charlotte to take on the unbeaten Hornets and former Celtics Gordon Hayward and Terry Rozier. Langford’s status for Monday’s game is unknown at the time of this publication.
