Dillon Brooks may be one of the most vilified players in the association — to the point that he has embraced the nickname “The Villain” — but make no mistake about it, he is a player who contributes to winning at every stop.

The Celtics fell apart defensively on the final two possessions as Dillon Brooks and the Rockets claimed a 114-112 victory.

Boston nearly pulled off a great win, but fell for the seventh time this season after leading by at least 10 points.

BOSTON – Luke Kornet’s stay-ready mindset was put ... along with career-high scoring efforts from Dillon Brooks (36 points) and Amen Thompson (33 points), allowed Houston to escape with ...

Dillon Brooks shot 10 of 15 from 3-point range ... and Jayson Tatum added 19 after a scoreless first half. Luke Kornet had 18 and Kristaps Porzingis scored 17 to go with eight rebounds.

Then he stomped toward his defender, Dillon Brooks, and gave him a bump ... Alperen Sengun shook Celtics center Luke Kornet with a backdoor cut and slid to the rim for an easy dunk.

Those last two plays are on me. Those are my fault.” Joe Mazzulla pointed the finger at himself after the Celtics dropped a 114-112 thriller to the Rockets on Monday night.

When Boston needed a stop, the calls the Celtics coach made proved disastrous, and afterward took responsibility for the loss: "I didn't help them close it at the end."

The Boston Celtics have now blown a fourth-quarter lead nine times this season. Nine times in 47 games. They blew nine games in the fourth quarter all of last season. Monday night was the seventh time this season the Celtics have lost a game they led by 10 points.

Boston Celtics star Jaylen Brown explains the what went wrong defensively to allow Amen Thompson and the Houston Rockets a win at the buzzer

BOSTON — Luke Kornet said he found out right before tipoff that he was going to be a late add to the starting lineup. Al Horford was a last-minute scratch for the Rockets game Monday ...

And unfortunately for Celtics backup center Luke Kornet, it came at his expense. Grimes posterized Kornet with a thunderous one-handed slam in the final 30 seconds of the third quarter.