Luka Garza posts solid performance versus Rockets

The Boston Celtics were down several key players on the second night of a back-to-back as they took on the Houston Rockets. Houston, who came into the game as the fourth seed in the West with a record of 31-18, was widely seen as the favorites given the absences of Jaylen Brown, Sam Hauser, and the recently traded Anfernee Simons, whose replacement, Nikola Vucevic, was not yet officially a member of the Celtics despite the trade being agreed upon.

Taking on a top team on the back half of a back-to-back is hard enough, but doing so short handed would be asking too much of almost any team. The Celtics aren’t just any team, though. By the look of things this season, there’s no task too tall for them. They have too many young, talented, hard-working players to ever be out of a fight.

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Luka Garza may just be the hardest working player in the league. It feels like he’s incapable of giving anything less than 100%. He was working all night against the Rockets, and put together one of the best performances of the game in the process.

Garza finished with 19 points, 6 rebounds, and 2 steals, shooting 7-13, and hitting two threes enroute. He was also the third highest scorer for the game, outscoring every Rockets player. Yes, you read that right. On a night where Kevin Durant, who was the highest scorer for Houston, played 33 minutes, Luka Garza scored more points.

That was, in big part, thanks to some stellar defense by Ron Harper Jr., who held KD to 1-5 shooting while matched up as the primary defender. It doesn’t take away from Luka’s night, however. With his second three of the night, Garza knocked down his 32nd of the season. That’s twice as many as he made in his entire rookie season, which was also his career high for a season prior to this season. Not only that, but he’s shooting it at a 45.7% clip, by far a career high.

Garza has been a great find by Brad Stevens, and earned a big vote of confidence by the team. Prior to the start of the year, Luka probably would have been viewed as expendable, especially if you were told that Boston would be adding in Nikola Vucevic. As the trade deadline…

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Publish date : 2026-02-06 10:17:00

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