HOUSTON — Terrence Jones said he is feeling more comfortable and confident on the floor.
It has showed the last two games.
wednesday’s game
WhO: Boston Celtics at San Antonio Spurs
When: 8:30 p.m.
Television: CSN
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Jones scored a career-high 24 points and grabbed nine rebounds to lead the Houston Rockets to their third straight victory, 109-85 over the Boston Celtics on Tuesday night.
Jones, who tied his previous career high with 14 points Saturday against Denver, was 10 of 12 from the field as the Rockets shot 57 percent as a team, including 72 percent in the first half in building a 24-point halftime lead.
“I’m just trying to make the simple plays and trying to be there for cuts and offensive rebounds,” said Jones, who has started the last four games. “I’m just trying to do all the things to help us win.”
Patrick Beverley chipped in 16 points, James Harden added 15 points, five rebounds and five assists and Dwight Howard had 10 points and 11 rebounds.
Jeremy Lin and Chandler Parsons each had 11 points as the Rockets raced to a 17-point, first-quarter lead and were never threatened.
Houston also never trailed in its 122-111 victory over Denver and has not trailed since falling behind New York 61-60 with 7:41 remaining in the third quarter Thursday, a span of 112 minutes, 19 seconds.
Houston Coach Kevin McHale said he hoped his team was catching a rhythm.
“I think the guys have done a really good job of being attentive and making corrections,” McHale said. “We’ve still got a long way to go, but we’re getting better all the time. That’s the encouraging thing.”
Courtney Lee had 17 points, Avery Bradley added 11 and Jared Sullinger had 10 points and nine rebounds off the bench for Boston, which shot 32 percent and lost its fourth in a row.
Boston Coach Brad Stevens said he didn’t have anything he was excited about from Tuesday’s game.
“I want to make sure we don’t play like that again, so I never look at it as it was just one of those things because there is something behind when you don’t play the way you’re supposed to,” Stevens said. “There are games where things just don’t go your way, but we’re letting one end affect the other, and you don’t do that against good teams.”
The Rockets jumped to an 18-1 lead in the first 5 minutes, capped by a follow dunk by Jones, who had six in the game-opening run. Beverley had five points in the stretch for Houston.
Howard pointed to Houston’s defense as the reason the Rockets ran out to the big lead.
“Terrence and myself tried to do a better job of protecting the paint and forcing teams to only get one shot,” Howard said.
“Once we do that, our young guys can get out and run. They did a good job of that tonight, of getting out and running early. We set the tone. That’s what we have to do.”
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