Houston came out strong in the all red uniforms to start the game and were led early by James Harden who shot a blistering hot 5-8 three pointers whilst logging a quick 17 points in the first quarter alone. With Chris Paul out, James Harden was extremely effective driving also, as the Celtics collapsed on Harden he showed great court vision handing out 4 assists to teammates. As both teams sized up one another to start, the Celtics had a nice spread of points with 8 scorers in the first quarter.
With the free flowing scoring on tap for Houston, it took a heady rim rocking effort by Jaylen Brown to show the Celtics had indeed came to play.