Houston Rockets – Boston Celtics · NBA

Win probability changed during the game. · 27 January 2025

HOU114–112BOS

Is it worth watching?

Highly recommended

It was more exciting than 91% of NBA games since 2017

· It was still open in the final minutes
· The win probability swung between the two teams 24 times
· It stayed close for almost the whole game

It measures how much the win probability moved during the game —without looking at who won or at the score— and compares it with the 10,950 NBA games with a curve since 2017. “Highly recommended” is the most intense 20%, “recommended” runs from 50% to 80%, and “skippable” is the rest. Source: ESPN.

↑ BOS winsHOU wins ↓

Home team's win probability across the game (source: ESPN). The band rises when BOS leads and falls when HOU does.

This is how the game was decided.

Dillon Brooks decided it, the Houston Rockets player with the most points (36, with 3 rebounds and 0 assists; +16 with him on the floor); the winner's best plus-minus was Alperen Sengun's (+17). The criterion: the winner's points in the box score; plus-minus says who was on the floor when the game opened up.

The game-winner in Boston Celtics 112-114 Houston Rockets (January 27, 2025) was hit by Amen Thompson: a jump shot with 1.1 s left in the fourth quarter, putting the Houston Rockets up 114-112. They never trailed again.

The biggest run of Boston Celtics 112-114 Houston Rockets (January 27, 2025) was a 14-0 run by the Houston Rockets in the first quarter (from 4:36 to 1:15), from 15-22 to 29-22. The Boston Celtics' best was a 12-0 run between the third quarter and the fourth quarter, from 84-85 to 96-85.

With 36 points, this is Dillon Brooks's highest-scoring game of the 2024‑25 regular season.

▸See where these figures come from

Play: Amen Thompson makes 11-foot driving floating jump shot (Fred VanVleet assists).

I count as the game-winner the basket that puts the winning team ahead for good. Source: the official NBA play-by-play (since 2002-03) and each team's official box scores.

A run here is consecutive points by one team without the opponent scoring. Source: the official NBA play-by-play (since 2002-03) and each team's official box scores.

Source: the game's official box score and play-by-play.

It is compared by points with all his official NBA box scores in that scope; it is the same criterion the Analyst uses.

Amen Thompson decided this game: his points put his team ahead with 1.1 seconds left in the fourth quarter, and the opponent never led again.

It is one of the 2 games he has decided this way in the NBA since the 2002-03 season.

His profile shows the games Thompson decided

▸See where these figures come from

A game is decided by the last basket that puts a team ahead in the final ten seconds of the fourth quarter or of an overtime, if that team wins.

27 January 2025 · The source is the ESPN play-by-play, play espn:401705216:679; the date is the one on the NBA box score.

Rotations · who was on the floor

Closing lineup · HOU

Thompson · Brooks · VanVleet · Sengun · Green

Closing lineup · BOS

Tatum · Brown · Kornet · Holiday · Pritchard

Q1Q2Q3Q4

HOU

Amen Thompson

42′ · +8

Dillon Brooks

40′ · +16

Fred VanVleet

37′ · +2

Alperen Sengun

34′ · +17

Jalen Green

30′ · 0

Tari Eason

25′ · -3

Aaron Holiday

15′ · -9

Steven Adams

14′ · -11

Jae'Sean Tate

5′ · -12

BOS

Jayson Tatum

42′ · +11

Jaylen Brown

38′ · -12

Luke Kornet

33′ · -1

Jrue Holiday

31′ · -12

Kristaps Porzingis

25′ · +3

Payton Pritchard

31′ · -7

Neemias Queta

19′ · 0

Xavier Tillman

6′ · -8

Jordan Walsh

4′ · 0

Jaden Springer

7′ · +11

Drew Peterson

3′ · +5

Each bar is a stint on the floor (source: NBA). The number is minutes played and the team's +/− with him on the court. HOU and BOS.

These lineups played the most minutes together.

Houston Rockets

VanVleet, Brooks, Green, Sengun, and Thompson played 19.3 minutes together.
VanVleet, Brooks, Sengun, Eason, and Thompson played 9.8 minutes together.
Brooks, Holiday, Eason, Thompson, and Adams played 3.9 minutes together.

The plus-minus of each Houston Rockets lineup is not shown: its rotation stints do not add up with each other.

Boston Celtics

Brown, Tatum, Kornet, Holiday, and Porzingis played 16.5 minutes together.
Their team won that stretch by 3 points.
Brown, Tatum, Pritchard, Holiday, and Porzingis played 5.7 minutes together.
Their team won that stretch by 2 points.
Brown, Tatum, Kornet, Queta, and Pritchard played 5.2 minutes together.
Their team won that stretch by 5 points.

▸See every lineup of the game

Houston Rockets

Holiday, Green, Tate, Thompson, and Adams played 3.6 minutes together.
Holiday, Green, Eason, Thompson, and Adams played 2.8 minutes together.
VanVleet, Brooks, Holiday, Sengun, and Eason played 2.7 minutes together.
VanVleet, Brooks, Green, Eason, and Adams played 1.4 minutes together.
VanVleet, Brooks, Green, Sengun, and Eason played 1.2 minutes together.
Brooks, Holiday, Sengun, Eason, and Thompson played 1.0 minutes together.

Boston Celtics

Brown, Queta, Pritchard, Tillman, and Holiday played 3.6 minutes together.
Their team lost that stretch by 7 points.
Tatum, Queta, Pritchard, Springer, and Peterson played 3.2 minutes together.
Their team won that stretch by 5 points.
Brown, Kornet, Queta, Pritchard, and Holiday played 2.7 minutes together.
Their team lost that stretch by 6 points.
Tatum, Kornet, Pritchard, Springer, and Walsh played 2.4 minutes together.
Their team won that stretch by 1 point.
Brown, Tatum, Kornet, Pritchard, and Porzingis played 2.2 minutes together.
Their team lost that stretch by 5 points.
Tatum, Queta, Pritchard, Tillman, and Walsh played 1.9 minutes together.
Their team lost that stretch by 1 point.
Brown, Tatum, Kornet, Pritchard, and Holiday played 1.3 minutes together.
Their team lost that stretch by 6 points.
Tatum, Kornet, Pritchard, Springer, and Porzingis played 1.0 minutes together.
Their team won that stretch by 3 points.

▸See where these figures come from

The lineups come from the NBA's official rotation: who was on the floor and when. Each lineup's plus-minus is worked out from every player's stints and is only shown when they all add up with each other and with the final score.

Amen Thompson covered 4.96 km, more than anyone in the game.

Jayson Tatum touched the ball 96 times, a game high.
Fred VanVleet made 70 passes, a game high.
Kristaps Porziņģis defended 12 shots at the rim, a game high, and opponents made 4.
Alperen Sengun had 16 rebound chances, a game high.

▸See what was measured for each player

Houston Rockets

Player	km	km/h	Touches	Passes
Amen Thompson	4.96	6.5	66	41
Dillon Brooks	4.59	6.3	46	21
Fred VanVleet	4.31	6.5	84	70
Alperen Sengun	3.89	6.3	65	50
Jalen Green	3.59	6.7	54	34
Tari Eason	2.90	6.4	34	24
Aaron Holiday	1.87	7.0	17	11
Steven Adams	1.59	6.4	13	8
Jae'Sean Tate	0.53	6.2	4	3

Boston Celtics

Player	km	km/h	Touches	Passes
Jaylen Brown	4.36	6.4	63	32
Jayson Tatum	4.10	5.4	96	68
Luke Kornet	3.99	6.7	37	24
Jrue Holiday	3.75	6.6	57	46
Payton Pritchard	3.68	6.6	53

The figures come from the NBA's optical tracking (NBA.com) for this game; speed is each player's average while on the floor.

Who stood out on defense during the season

These figures cover the whole 2024-25 regular season, not this game.

Houston Rockets

Tari Eason recovered 1.0 loose balls per game over his 57 games.
He ranks 5 of 388 in the league.
Jae'Sean Tate drew 0.17 charges per game over his 47 games.
He ranks 12 of 388 in the league.
Alperen Sengun contested 9.1 shots per game over his 75 games.
He ranks 16 of 388 in the league.

Boston Celtics

Kristaps Porziņģis defended 6.1 shots at the rim per game over his 42 games, and opponents made 15 fewer out of every 100 than usual.
He ranks 2 of 138 in the league.
Jaylen Brown recovered 0.8 loose balls per game over his 63 games.
He ranks 19 of 388 in the league.
Luke Kornet defended 4.5 shots at the rim per game over his 71 games, and opponents made 12 fewer out of every 100 than usual.
He ranks 8 of 138 in the league.

Hustle figures come from the hustle stats the NBA publishes (NBA.com) and rim defense comes from its tracking; both cover the regular season. For each player in this game we show the figure that ranks him highest in the league, and for each team, the three best ranked. Ranks count players with at least 30 games and, at the rim, at least 4 defended shots per game.

The Boston Celtics have won 97 of their 154 games against the Houston Rockets.

97-57record of the Boston Celtics · NBA 1971-72 – 2025-26, regular season and playoffs

1-1in 2025-26

See the full head-to-head in the Analyst

See where it comes from

Official NBA box scores, regular season and playoffs, 1971-72 – 2025-26. It counts every game between the two teams that the house holds, this one included.

SportiveWorld knows much more about this game

Game context

Attendance

19.156

102.9% of capacity

TD Garden · Boston

Scoring

226

combined points

1.7 below the season average (227.7)

⚖️ The last two minutes

Official NBA L2M report: every call in the endgame, reviewed by the league.

12 calls reviewed1 errors admitted by the NBA

Foul: Personal · 00:15.5

Fred VanVleet → Jaylen Brown

VanVleet (HOU) reaches in and makes clean contact with the ball to deflect it away from Brown (BOS). The contact with Brown's arm prior to the contact to the ball is marginal.