Disbelief was etched all over Kevin McHale’s face and was punctuated by shakes of the head. Even a man who last month buried a 23-year-old daughter could not fathom the violent and senseless loss of someone else’s child at 6 or 7.

This was Friday night in Houston during a moment of silence for the shooting victims in Newtown, Conn., before McHale’s Rockets played the Celtics from Boston, where McHale was known to put his long arms to good basketball use. The day’s blindsiding emotions left a few folks thinking that the N.B.A. schedule works in deep and mysterious ways.

“After all he’s gone through the last few weeks, and here we come on this incredibly sad day with the Celtics green,” said Jeff Twiss, Boston’s longtime public-relations director. “It had to be another tearing of the heart.”

McHale’s daughter, Alexandra, known as Sasha, died Nov. 24 from complications of lupus, and after a month’s absence, he returned to coach the team Dec. 8. After defeating the Celtics, the Rockets were beaten in Toronto on Sunday and arrived in New York for a different kind of N.B.A. reunion Monday night, Jeremy Lin’s with the Carmelo Anthony-less Knicks at Madison Square Garden.