House's shots a hit, even to Magic's Alston

Alston chased House so much in the Celtics' 112-94 Game 2 win, he should have been wearing blue lights.

On a night when House came off the bench and scored 31 points on 11-of-14 shooting from the floor (4 of 4 from 3-point range), the PA announcer's voice would continually boom, "Eddie House!" or "Eddie House . . . for three!"

With each bucket, House seemed to get deeper under Alston's skin. Then came a three-ball that split the nets with 49.7 seconds left in the third quarter.

House came sprinting from one end of the baseline to the other, trying to get open for a catch-and-shoot. Alston chased him the whole way.

House took a feed from Rajon Rondo and heaved it up.

Splash. Turn. Celebrate.

Then Alston smacked House in the back of the head, catching him so flush that the NBA logo on House's headband went from one side of House's head to the other.

They wound up chest to chest before referees issued double technicals. House stayed on the floor, steaming. Alston went to the bench to cool off.

Alston said he had his reasons. In the process of drilling the shot, turning and celebrating, Alston said, House gave him an extra shove with his elbow.

"Eddie made the shot," Alston said. "I'm standing out of bounds, letting him run by, he runs by, shoots an elbow at me.

"It was just a natural reaction. I tried to get to him, grab him before he ran back down the court.

"I have no hard feelings toward Eddie. I have a lot of respect for him. But when you're having a good night, kicking our behinds, he shot the elbow at me in my stomach, it was just a natural reaction."

House said Alston had to be naturally reacting to the shots he was drilling.

"All I did was hit a shot, turn the other way, and got hit upside the head," House said. "I guess he was tired of getting hit upside the head."

The House elbow is visible in replays, but the intent is debatable.

"He did it deliberately," said Alston. "Usually, he'll run down the court and then show his emotions, but right there I was just standing out of bounds and got a shot as he was sprinting down the court. He made a three. He loves celebrating."

House said, "Everybody saw what happened. I don't play that type of basketball. I think he was trying to do anything to just try to stop me."

House and Alston each said no words had been exchanged before the incident, but it's well-known that when House is on fire, whoever's guarding him is going to know about it.

"He gets under everybody's skin when he gets us going," said Celtics coach Doc Rivers. "It's not personal. I mean, he just gets so wound up into the game, and that's good. I'm a big believer in emotion. And some people will take it the wrong way, but I'll take it was long as he's on my side."

Familiar with House from their days together in Miami, Magic coach Stan Van Gundy said, "If he gets under guys' skin, it's because he gets very excited when things are going good.

"Eddie's not a guy who's a pain in the [butt] at all. It's just yeah, he's excited and he's going to let you know he's kicking your butt. There's a lot of guys like that in this league, and he had a great game today."

The Magic lost Dwight Howard for a game in the first round for elbowing 76ers center Samuel Dalembert.

Alston could face the same fate.

"I'm always concerned," said Van Gundy. "I know this: I can't do anything about it. Hopefully, there's some things I see on the film and on the court that happened during the game that I can do something about. As far as that goes, there's nothing I can do about it."

House, on the other hand, could rest easy, knowing the series was knotted up.

"This was a big game," he said. "We needed to get this to even the series out. It was more like a statement game to us."

Julian Benbow can be reached at jbenbow@globe.com.