Celtics vs. Thunder: Pregame Primer
vs. 
Boston Celtics (15-4, 8-1 road) vs. Oklahoma City Thunder (10-8, 5-4 home)
TV: FS Oklahoma (Cox 37, HD 722, Tulsa Cox 27, DirectTV 679, UVerse 753)
Stream: Click Here
Radio: WWLS The Sports Animal (98.1 FM, 640 AM, 97.1 FM Tulsa)
Time: 7:00 CST
Offensive Rating: Thunder – 105.9 (19th), Celtics – 109.0 (11th)
Defensive Rating: Thunder – 102.7 (5th), Celtics – 99.1 (2nd)
Pace: Thunder – 91.9 (19th), Celtics – 91.1 (25th)
View from the enemy: Celtics Hub
Color me excited for this one. Not necessarily because I see this as another chance at a large statement to the league. Not necessarily because I have real expectations of winning. Not because of anything really. It’s just that any time the Celtics come to town, it’s neat. The three previous things add to the excitement for sure, but just the fact that Boston is in Oklahoma City gets me psyched. Their tradition, their uniforms, their big name stars. It’s all very exciting.
The Celtics come in after a tough 90-83 win in San Antonio last night which was the C’s sixth straight win. Ray Allen played 40 minutes, Kevin Garnett 35, Paul Pierce 37 and Rajon Rondo 36. Boston had to work for its win and that’s good news for Thunder fans. There is potential that the older legs of the Celtics could be a little noodlely this evening. As pointed out by an astute reader, while Bostin is 8-1 on the road this year, its one loss was to the Indiana Pacers on the tail of a back-to-back. And last night in their win they faded near the end scoring only 16 points in the final frame. Hmm….
OKC should be rested and ready, though Etan Thomas will likely be starting in place of Nenad Krstic who is questionable for tonight. That’s a bigger loss than you might think because Krstic spreads the floor and provides Russell Westbrook a perfect bailout option.
THE MATCHUPS
Two key head-to-heads I think: Garnett versus Green and Durant versus Pierce. First KG and JG: Obviously Garnett has the upper hand here. He’s still one of the true elite players and Uncle Jeff typically has some issues with guys that score inside and out. Garnett is a beast and he’s going to get after Green on the defensive end too. I wouldn’t expect much from Uncle Jeff, just that hopefully he can keep his head above water, rebound a little and limit Garnett offensively.
Paul Pierce is one of the top defenders in the league, mainly because he never quits. Every possession is a personal battle to him. He’s smaller than KD, but he’ll probably use Artest tactics and try and get inside and under Durant. Which of course could open the door for a couple “rip moves” from KD. I’m honestly not too tremendously worried about Pierce offensively. Durant is such a better defender now and really understands how to use his length. He can give a player some room because he can make up ground with his go-go-gadget arms. And we all know how Pierce loves that step-back elbow jumper.
Rondo and Westbrook are similar players in that they defend, they are lightning quick and they don’t shoot all that well. Kind of a push if you ask me. And of course I love Thabo on Ray Allen. I’ve said it before, but most times Thabo tortures jumpshooting two-guards. And nobody is more that than Ray Allen. Thabo will always have a hand in his face and will always challenge shots. Thing is, Allen is so amazing that he’ll knock down jumpers with a pile of dead bodies stacked eye level. He’s just lights out.
The Celtic bench is far deeper than the Thunder with Rasheed Wallace, Marquis Daniels and Eddie House providing instant offense off the pine. I suspect this will be a game OKC relies on James Harden a bit to provide some secondary scoring a spark to hang with Boston when Durant and Green need to sit. If OKC didn’t have Nick Collison tonight I’d say no chance, but Nick’s return has me feeling a little better about the Thunder’s second unit. I am a little worried the potential for a fight with Kendrick Perkins and Etan Thomas squaring off.
Mrs. Daily Thunder is taking a big chance and is willing to put her perfect record on the line tonight. She doesn’t want to everyone to think she hand picks easy games to just win. She’s no Mack Brown here people. The Ford Center should be a-rockin’ tonight. Hope you’re ready for some defense.
Tip at 7:00 CST. Go D.
@justin
So what you are saying is that we were down bigtime BEFORE he cut the lead down? Hmmm, sounds like you just proved my point, but what ever you say boss.
@grant phillips
grant phillips, I do not know how long you have watched NBA basketball but the goal is not to be ‘over .500′. Lots of PG’s can lead a team to ‘over .500′, Russell Westbrook is supposed to be a core player that will lead this team to deep playoff runs in the (hopefully) near future. This will not happen if he continues to play basketball the way he does; his brand of basketball will be picked apart by good teams in the playoffs and the longer he continues to play this way the harder the habits will be to break.
He is a very talented athlete and basketball player but this team needs him to become a PG. He does a lot of things well not really related to his PG duties (scoring efficiency overall, rebounding), but those things won’t lead to playoff runs.
@Dan
well i have watched every game… he has a lot of bball IQ… if you want to talk bad about someone talk about how jeff green refuses to make any shot tonight. westbrook and durant were the only reasons we were in the game..
@grant phillips
Jeff Green is 3-7 from the field, Russ is 5-14. KD was the reason we were in the game.
@justin
Jeff Green was also 0-4 from 3.
Garnett has 21 points.
Rondo has 8 points.
umm how about how jeff green refuses to grab a rebound? 2 in 30 minutes is pretty pathetic
@Anonymous
I agree.
The Celtics have only missed 21 shots on the night, I don’t feel like researching what percentage of those misses Jeff Green was around for, but that’s not a lot of opportunities for rebounds.
Westbrook is out rebounding our pf. I think that is the point.
@Warren
Um.. no he isn’t?
Oh, your right. My bad. They have the same. Same difference. lol
My point is I will take a player who will try to step up, over a player who doesn’t. Green is a great 6th man, but when he starts getting beat-up on he tends to back off.
@Warren
LOL, I have my problems with Jeff Green too.. you’re preaching to the choir there buddy.
Actually, both Westbrook and Green have had pretty bad games, especially if you consider what their celtics counterparts have done. Rondo has 15 pts, 4 steals, and only 1 turn, while Garnett is 10-11 with as many o-rebounds as green’s total.
@justin
I have issues with Westbrook too, but he gets out of control in games that we fall way behind in. It just so happens that those are the games that Green is a no show. You get what I mean?
@Anonymous
Other than the turnovers Rondo and Westbrook are pretty even.
westbrook’s needed 5 more shots to get the same points, has 4 fewer steals, and 2 fewer assists. I think that’s a pretty big difference.
I think Krstic is missed more than any of the Krstic haters think.
@Anonymous
yawn
@Warren
They aren’t even at all, man. Rondo has 15 points on 11 shot attempts, Russ has 15 on 16 shot attempts. Rondo is 33% more efficient scoring the ball. He has 6 assists to 1 turnover, Russ has 4 assists to 5 turnovers.
Russ is being dominated by a much more heady, patient player. This says nothing about defense, either.
@justin
Oh yea, well Westbrook has twice as many makes from the free throw line and is way ahead on rebounds.
I’m not trying to say westbrook’s not a good player, or i don’t think he’s the long-term pg of the future. I just think he’s having trouble playing against an all-star caliber pg. no shame in that
@Warren
that’s just childish, he has one more ft and one more rebound.
@Anonymous
LOL
I know, thats why I said it like that. lol
Westbrook has a ways to go, there is no disputing that. He just pushes to hard in games like this. In the games that we win, he looks great most of the time. Games like the 76ers he had 15 asst. and only 2 turnovers.
Who knew Brooks was such a speed demon?
http://www.oscn.net/applications/ocisweb/GetCaseInformation.asp?submitted=true&viewtype=caseGeneral&casemasterID=2406725&db=Oklahoma
Mike Wilks SUCKS!!! That’s it goodnite.
The recap is up guys. Thanks!
@Anonymous
hahah that made me laugh…