The Boston Celtics earned their 20th victory of the season by sending the Houston Rockets to their 16th consecutive loss on Sunday night.
The C's won in impressive fashion. They shot 55.4 percent from the field and pulled so far ahead in their 134-107 win that they were able to rest their starters for almost all of the fourth quarter.
Their effort was well-rounded, too: While their starters played well, it was really the bench that sparked them to victory. In particular, there were two standout performers off the bench and their respective performances are a big part of the reason that the Celtics emerged with an easy win.
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Highlights: C's cruise to win over Rockets in well-rounded effort
Here are the takeaways from Boston's win over Houston, including another big game for Robert Williams.
1. Robert Williams is on pace for historic shooting numbers.
Williams put forth another excellent outing on Sunday, scoring 16 points, grabbing 13 boards, and recording three thunderous blocks against the Rockets. He shot 7-for-7 from the floor, and that highlights a trend for him.
The Time Lord has played in 31 games this season for the Celtics. In eight of those contests, he has been perfect from the field. And among all NBA players, Williams ranks sixth in shooting percentage on the season with a mark of 70.6 percentage.
Obviously, Williams rarely shoots the ball from a distance and more typically just goes up for layups and dunks near the hoop. That's his game. The way in which he does it is impressive and has been punctuated by big-time dunks like the one below.
Even still, Williams is on an historic shooting pace.
During his three NBA seasons, Williams has never logged worse than a 70.6 shooting percentage from the field. Granted, he logged that number while taking just 1.6 shots per game as a rookie, but it's still impressive nonetheless.
Boston Celtics
For his career, Williams is shooting 71.3 percent from the floor. If he continues at that rate, he will be more than four percentage points ahead of the current NBA leader in field goal percentage, DeAndre Jordan.
Of course, Williams has to log 400 career games before he can qualify for all-time rate stat leaderboards -- he has played in just 92 to date -- but the point still stands. If Williams can continue to finish at the rim at a high rate, he will be one of the most efficient players in NBA history.
2. Marcus Smart quietly helped spark Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown.
The Celtics got much-needed performances out of Tatum and Brown in this one. The two combined to score 47 points on 58 percent shooting and helped the C's to build an insurmountable lead.
With those impressive stats, the duo reached a milestone that they hadn't reached since Jan. 30 against the Los Angeles Lakers, as pointed out by Jared Weiss of The Athletic. They both shot better than 50 percent in the same game.
That Jan. 30 date is an important one, as it is the game that Smart first suffered the calf tear that knocked him out for 20 games. And it's clear that he had an impact on Tatum and Brown's ability to get good, open looks Sunday night.
Smart logged a modest stat line of five points and three assists during this game. However, he did two critical things to help Tatum and Brown.
First, he kept the ball moving on the court. Second, he was vocal on the court in coordinating the offense and had the C's moving off the ball constantly. That gave Tatum and Brown lanes to the basket that they successfully attacked.
Did Tatum and Brown hit some tough contested shots during this game? Yes, and this one by Tatum was particularly impressive.
But generally speaking, the duo was able to get open looks during the game, and that was largely thanks to Smart's presence and willingness to move the ball.
3. There's a reason that the Rockets have lost 16 games in a row.
This win was obviously fun for the Celtics, but it's important to remember that they were squaring off against what may well be the NBA's worst team.
The Rockets have lost 16 consecutive games. They have some talented players on their roster, but the C's only faced one proven player in this contest, Victor Oladipo. Boston did a good job against Oladipo, limiting him to 9-of-23 shooting, though he did total 26 points.
However, outside of Oladipo, the Rockets were significantly shorthanded. The team was without a whopping six players on Sunday night including John Wall, Christian Wood, Danuel House, and P.J. Tucker. So, that partly explained why the C's were able to pummel the Rockets so easily.
As complete of a win as this was, the Celtics can't let themselves get too cocky ahead of a key matchup with the Utah Jazz on Tuesday night. The Jazz have the NBA's best record at 28-10, so they'll provide the C's a much tougher test than the depleted Rockets.