HOUSTON -- Terrence Jones said he is feeling more comfortable and confident on the floor. It has showed the last two games. 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 per cent as a team, including 72 per cent in the first half in building a 24-point halftime lead. "Im 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. "Im 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 out 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. "Weve still got a long way to go, but were getting better all the time. Thats the encouraging thing. We have a lot of room for improvement still, but I can feel us starting to jell a little bit." Courtney Lee had 17 points, Avery Bradley added 11 and Jared Sullinger had 10 points and nine rebounds off the bench for Boston, which lost its fourth in a row. The Celtics shot 32 per cent. Boston coach Brad Stevens said he didnt have anything he was excited about from Tuesdays game. "I want to make sure we dont 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 dont play the way youre supposed to," Stevens said. "There are games where things just dont go your way, but were letting one end affect the other, and you dont do that against good teams." The Rockets jumped out 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 Houstons defence 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. Thats what we have to do." Boston got its first point of the game on Jordan Crawfords free throw 45 seconds in after a Houston defensive 3-second call, but the Celtics missed their first nine shots and had three turnovers before Bradley hit a jumper with 6:46 left in the first to cut the lead to 18-3. "It was a slow start," Lee said. "We werent making shots, and were not executing our offence, and Houston got out and were running and were making easy layups, and everything they were running was working against us. It was definitely a bad start for us." Boston, which shot 24 per cent in the first quarter, cut the lead to 28-18 on Sullingers layup with 2:28 left in the period. However, Houston, which shot 80 per cent in the first quarter, responded by ending the quarter on a 12-0 run capped by Omri Casspis 3-pointer to lead 40-18 after one. Houston pushed the lead to 43-18 on a 3-pointer by Beverley a minute into the second quarter and Boston never got the lead below 18 the rest of the way. The Rockets led 68-44 at the half and stretched the lead to 35 at 88-53 on Howards follow shot with 4 minutes to go in the third. NOTES: Houston C Omer Asik, who has been the subject of trade rumours, played Tuesday after missing the last two games. "I was just frustrated," Asik said at Tuesday mornings shootaround about missing the previous two games. "It is behind me now. Im looking forward to help my team win." Asik would not discuss reports that he asked to be traded. ... High school senior Carly Wright, who has been diagnosed with osteosarcoma, a form of bone cancer, was granted a wish by the Rockets and the Make-A-Wish program as she attended shootaround and the game and met the team, including her favourite player, Parsons. Jerian Grant Jersey .J. - Henrik Lundqvist has done more than set a couple of franchise records for the New York Rangers this week. Orlando Magic Jerseys . - The Oakland Athletics say they are stopping negotiations to extend their lease at the Coliseum. http://www.magicauthentic.com/kids-timofey-mozgov-magic-jersey/ . Assistant coach Glen Gulutzan said Thursday that Edler, who played Tuesday in Nashville, is out indefinitely. Grant Hill Magic Jersey . In taking its goal tally to 99 in all competitions already this season, City delivered another demonstration of its lethal firepower at Etihad Stadium to set up a fourth-round match at home to another second-tier team -- Watford. Penny Hardaway Magic Jersey . - After sewage backups, toilet overflows and foul smells surfaced the past two years, nothing at the Oakland Coliseum surprises the home team anymore.(SportsNetwork.com) - The Ottawa Senators will try to keep their slim playoff hopes alive when they face the Chicago Blackhawks who are trying to secure their place in the post-season. You can listen to the game live on TSN 1200 in Ottawa at 7:30pm et. The Senators have lost four of their last six at home versus the Blackhawks and a late-season fade has just about knocked them out of the playoff race. They snapped a six-game slide with Mondays shootout win over Tampa Bay, but lost a 3-2 shootout to the Florida Panthers the following night. Ottawa has gone 2-6-3 in its last 11 and sits eight points back of four teams tied for the two wild card berths in the Eastern Conference. On Tuesday, Vincent Trocheck and Brandon Pirri beat Ottawas Robin Lehner in the shootout. After Turris rattled a goal off the post and in, Jason Spezza fired wide on Ottawas second chance and Floridas Roberto Luongo ended the game with a glove save on Michaleks backhand as he did a split in the crease. Lehner had 39 saves for the Senators, who begin a five-game homestand tonight. "It is what it is," Lehner said of the loss. "We lost that one but I thought it was a good effort." Anderson may get the start tonight and it would be his first since March 10, when he suffered an upper-body injury. He is 4-1-2 with a 3.43 GAA lifetime versus the Blackhawks. Bobby Ryan, who leads Ottawa with 23 goals, missed his second game with a lower-body injury and will miss the rest of the regular season due to surgery to correct a sports hernia. Ryan was acquired in a trade with Anaheim on the same day long-time Sens skater Daniel Alfredsson signed with the Detroit Red Wings. He finished his first season in Ottawa with 48 points in 70 games.dddddddddddd The Blackhawks went into Thursday nights game versus the hosting Boston Bruins needing just one point to clinch a playoff spot, but were blanked 3-0 in their first trip to TD Garden since winning the Cup last June. Corey Crawford stopped 20 shots for the Blackhawks, who had won three of their previous four but were shut out for the second time in three games. A struggling power play didnt help. Chicago went 0-for-2 on the man advantage and has gone 0-for-20 in its last seven on the road. "Were looking to get one more win," Blackhawks head coach Joel Quenneville said. Chicago played a fourth straight game without winger Patrick Kane due to a lower-body injury and fellow forward Bryan Bickell also sat out his fourth in a row because of an upper-body issue. Still, the Blackhawks sit second in the Central Division, one point ahead of the Colorado Avalanche but 14 up on the fourth-place Minnesota Wild. It is unknown if Crawford will start on back-to-back nights or if rookie backup Antti Raanta will face the Senators for the first time. Crawford is 2-0-0 with a 1.92 goals against average in his career against Ottawa, picking up a victory in relief on Oct. 29. He yielded one goal on 15 shots in spelling Nikolai Khabibulin as the Blackhawks rallied for a 6-5 win. Jonathan Toews scored twice in the third period to notch a hat trick as the Blackhawks beat the Senators for a third straight meeting and for the sixth time in the last seven encounters. Ottawa saw Craig Anderson allow six goals on 40 shots, while Kyle Turris and Milan Michalek both had a goal and an assist. ' ' '