Layne Murdoch/NBAE/Getty Images
BOX SCORE
The game was over at halftime. The Celtics led 58-37 and really, Oklahoma City couldn’t have looked worse. Playing a team like the Celtics, there really wasn’t a ton of hope that the Thunder could overcome their first half issues and get back in a game against a quality club like Boston.
Yet, they kind of did.
Russell Westbrook sparked a 9-0 run in the third quarter, basically by himself. He attacked, played with fire on the defensive end and did everything he could to get his guys going. The Thunder cut the deficit to 13. Westbrook then tried to do way too much, hoisting two bad shots and turning it over once. Boston went on a 7-0 run to respond and Scott Brooks called a timeout. Westbrook re-harnessed the energy and OKC closed the quarter on a 13-2 run, cutting the lead to nine heading to the fourth quarter. And with a James Harden 3 to start things off, the Thunder had the game to six with a whole quarter to play. Read more…
Recap
Boston Celtics
(Want to make your Internet voice heard? Whatever it is, send it in to dailythunder@gmail.com. Today’s fan piece comes from reader Girlballer.)
Greetings DT’ers!! I wanted to share with you my recent fan “experience” at the hallowed halls of the Boston Garden. If baseball stadiums are cathedrals of sports religion, then hardwood floors are the altars, and no altar is more holy than the parquet of the Garden, (and in Boston it is “the GAAAAAHDEN!!!” taking at least a full three count to pronounce it correctly). Sorry to break it to you CP3 but the truth is, the Celtics were my first NBA love.
Without going into a long, boring, (anonymity destroying) bio here, I do need to confess that I have only been to a total of two NBA arenas in my life. So my experience is obviously limited, but I think I gained some worthwhile tips from the good people of Boston for us as Thunder fans, and it confirmed (at least to me) what we are doing RIGHT, and what the rest of the league might learn from us! (side note* after I started writing this, I caught a segment on NBATV titled, “Who will be the NEXT OKC?!?!” blew my mind that we might already be old news…but I digress, I was telling you guys about Boston) Read more…
Friday Fan
Boston Celtics
Elsa/Getty Images
BOX SCORE
Oklahoma City was right where you’d want to be on the road against a good team. And I have no idea how. After three quarters, the Celtics were shooting 67 percent from the floor and the Thunder were shooting 48 percent. Yet somehow, the game was tied.
So many times we’ve seen this young Thunder team walk into this situation and completely clench up. The offensive execution goes first, then they give up a few big rebounds and finally, the just can’t knock down the shots. Most times, the finger is point at Kevin Durant if he doesn’t take over late for his team. The game in Portland comes to mind. But tonight? How does eight HUGE fourth quarter points, four rebounds and stellar defense do you? KD owned the game when he had to, scoring 20 of his game-high 37 in the second half. Read more…
Recap
Boston Celtics
vs. 
Okla. City Thunder (45-28, 21-15 road) at Boston Celtics (47-26, 23-13 home)
TV: KSBI (Cox 15, HD 715)
Stream: Click here
Radio: WWLS The Sports Animal (98.1 FM, 640 AM, 97.1 FM Tulsa)
Time: 6:30 CDT
Offensive Rating: Thunder – 107.4 (14th), Celtics – 107.0 (17th)
Defensive Rating: Thunder – 103.4 (6th), Celtics – 102.4 (1st)
Pace: Thunder – 92.8 (14th), Celtics – 91.7 (21st)
View from the enemy: Celtics Hub
Playing Boston after two weeks rest at home isn’t easy. So playing in Boston on the second of a back-to-back definitely isn’t easy. The good news for the Thunder though is the a good numbers of their players got some rest in a blowout win over Philly last night and also, that Paul Piece likely won’t play tonight. Read more…
Preview
Boston Celtics
Some nights it just ain’t happenin’ folks.
Box Score
It’s hard to know what to say after a game like this. I’m no professional writer. I guess if you go to journalism school they may teach you how to channel your feelings into crisp sentences and tight paragraphs. Me, well, I just start hitting the keys and hope what spills out isn’t too gawd awful.
The picture is appropriate though. The first thing I began to think of after about half of the first quarter was a team getting totally handled; much like we did in the second match up against the Fakers Lakers. I guess it just shows how great that chasm can be between the “okay” or “pretty good” teams and the elite clubs in the NBA.
First the C’s came out and really really lit up the scoreboard in the first. They were 12/19 and 4/5 from deep and dropped 31 on us. In the meantime we were able to only put 20 on the board. It’s not like we weren’t hitting our shots (we were 9/15-60%), it’s just that they were getting all of the offensive boards and hitting threes. The threes wouldn’t fall for us for anything tonight. Time after time we had open looks from deep and they wouldn’t go down. That wasn’t because of superior Celtics defense, the wide open looks didn’t go.
But the Celtics did play very good defense. Very good defense. It wasn’t perfect and it wasn’t always foolproof, but I think at every position from the first guy to the last the Celtics were better at the team defensive concept. Read more…
Recap
Boston Celtics
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. Read more…
Preview
Boston Celtics
