James Harden questioned why only two officials were used after the Houston Rockets blew a 26-point lead in a defeat to the Boston Celtics on Thursday.

Harden was called for two offensive fouls in the final 7.3 seconds as Boston completed a huge comeback to win 99-98.

The game was overseen by just two referees after official Mark Lindsay hurt his back during the warm-ups.

And Rockets guard Harden was left bemused by that turn of events, though he did praise the Celtics for their remarkable recovery.

"Well, first of all, I'm wondering how do you only have two officials on a national TV game? That's the first question," Harden said.

"But like I said, it's just tough. You can't have two officials in a professional game. There's a lot of no-calls that need to be called, because that changes the dynamic of the game.

"They're a good team. They're gonna make a run, especially at home. We just didn't execute when we needed to.

"Then you got fast-break points, no-calls, turnovers, whatever the case may be. But it's a professional game, national TV. Can't happen."