Early on, it looked like Boston actually had a chance to keep things close in Oklahoma City tonight. Behind 15 first-half points from Jordan Crawford and 47% shooting overall, Boston was only down ten points. It was 66-56 after 2 quarters.
But the Thunder turned it up another notch, outscoring Boston 53-40 in the 2nd half and coasting to an easy 119-96 win tonight. The Celtics showed some fight, mostly in the 1st two quarters, but had trouble taking care of the ball in quarters 3 & 4 (11 turnovers). Combine that with some poor shot selection, an 18-point 4th quarter and OKC shooting 50% in the 2nd half and you have the recipe for a blowout. Kevin Durant had 21 points and Reggie Jackson’s 27 led all scorers.
Things will not get any easier for Boston, as they now head to the west coast for games against Denver, the Clippers, Portland & GSW. They have the day off tomorrow, before facing Denver on Tuesday night.
The Green:
- Kris Humphries continues to impress me on both ends of the floor. He is tough & pesky on defense, and consistent on offense. Humph put in 14 points tonight on 5 of 8 shooting, and also had 3 blocks & 3 boards.
- Jeff Green started off slow tonight, but had 14 of his 19 in the second half. Green was 8 of 15 from the floor and 3 of 5 from downtown. The starting back court of AB & Crawford was hit or miss tonight, but they did combine for 36 points and 5 treys.
The Gross:
- Celtics did not put forth consistent effort on the defensive end. They looked sharp & focused at times, but bored & lazy at others. OKC dropped 119 points and 50 of them in the paint.
- Sully had a tough night. The big guy struggled, scoring 9 points on 3 of 11. But he gets a pass, due to his still injured hand/wrist. Hopefully another day off tomorrow will help get Sullinger back to where he needs to be physically.
The Grid: (quick stats)
Courtney Lee posted this “thank you” to Celtics fans on his Instagram page during tonight’s game:
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