The Celtics stayed on the road, visiting former Boston head coach Ime Udoka and the Houston Rockets on Friday night.

Boston got Kristaps Porzingis back after a four-game absence, but without Jaylen Brown (shoulder strain), the Celtics were forced to play their 16th straight game without a full complement of eight healthy subs. Facing off against Houston’s stout defense and NBA-leading 14.2 offensive rebounds per game, Boston had its work cut out for it from the start.

But that didn’t stop Jayson Tatum and Derrick White from giving the Celtics their third straight win and improving their record to 26-9.

Here are three tips and three duds from Boston’s 109-86 win over Houston:

SUPPORT
Jayson Tatum
The leadership firepower came from Minnesota to Houston for Tatum.

Boston’s five-time All-Star once again did a little bit of everything. Tatum scored 20 points before being replaced by Xavier Tillman Sr. with 4:53 left in the fourth quarter. The 26-year-old shot 7 of 19 from the floor, grabbed six rebounds and had five assists in 33 minutes.

Payton Pritchard
Another night, another reason Pritchard is in the driver’s seat as leader of Boston’s reserve unit in the early race for Sixth Man of the Year.

Pritchard scored 20 points as the bench leader, shooting 8 of 10 from the field and 4 of 6 from three. The undersized guard also grabbed four rebounds, tallied two assists and recorded a block, giving the C’s a starter-level performance.

Derrick White
White’s fiery shooting hand came through again.

The 30-year-old knocked down 6 of 11 attempts from beyond the arc and finished the night with a team-high 23 points and a game-high plus-27. White also had four rebounds, two assists and a block, helping to make up for Brown’s absence.

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Idiots
Sam Hauser
The Celtics ran with Hauser in the starting lineup again and it didn’t go well.

Hauser remained goalless after 19 minutes. The 27-year-old missed his only shot attempt – a 3-pointer – and grabbed three rebounds and a steal. Admittedly, on a night where the Celtics shut out the Rockets, Hauser’s offensive deficiencies were overshadowed.

Houston’s 3-point shooting
The Rockets entered the evening as the worst 3-point shooting team in the Western Conference at 32.7% and performed accordingly.

Houston missed just 10 of 36 (27.8%) shots, which was not only fewer than Boston’s 19 at 48.7% shooting, but also fewer than its first five shots, which were 14 for 31. Udoka doesn’t have the 3-point threats he did when he was with the Celtics, and that will continue to hurt Houston’s young, up-and-coming roster down the line.

Jeff Green
The former four-season Celtics winger didn’t do much in the starting 25 minutes.

Green scored just seven points, hit two shots and two free throws and collected four rebounds for Houston, posting the lowest point total of any Rockets starter. The 38-year-old posted a minus-16 rating, giving Green a lower rating than anyone else in Boston’s starting lineup or bench.