Boston’s bench sparks blowout win: 10 Takeaways from Celtics/Rockets

Troy Taormina-USA TODAY Sports 1. The Celtics needed a win like this. It wasn’t a wire-to-wire blowout, but from about midway through the first quarter on, Boston exerted their dominance over an outmanned Houston team. In the middle two periods, the Celtics outscored the Rockets by a 66-38 margin.

More importantly, they looked like the Celtics during the portion where they took control. They were closing out to shooters, moving the ball on offense and pushing pace. That’s the only way Boston can win games on a consistent basis.

2. Part of what took the Celtics a while to get going was lackadaisical play. This resulted in open shots for the Rockets, many off them off turnovers. Boston had nine…