Final: Thunder 119, Celtics 115- Celtics crater at worst possible time

TIP OFF: 7:00 p.m @ TD Garden
RADIO: 98.5 The Sports Hub
TV: NBC Sports Boston

Predicted Starting Lineups

Celtics
G: Payton Pritchard
G: Marcus Smart
SF: Evan Fournier
PF: Jaylen Brown
C: Tristan Thompson

Thunder
G: Theo Maledon
G: Kenrich Williams
SF: Aleksej Pokusevski
PF: Darius Bazley
C: Moses Brown

LIVE COVERAGE, by John Karalis

Fourth quarter

• A little sloppy here in the 4th. The Celtics have the lead off a Smart steal and layup and an Aaron Nesmith floater off a pick-and-roll, which is a new thing.


• OKC went on another 3-point barrage to take a 5 point lead, but Boston answered behind Jaylen Brown


• The Celtics fell behind by 6 again, this time Darius Bazley did most of the damage at the rim with strong attacks and rebounding


• Boston's shooting has abandoned them again. They've gone scoreless in more than two minutes. OKC is on a 16-4 run


• The Celtics put a frantic run together behind a Marcus Smart 3 (his first of the night), and one from Payton Pritchard to cut the lead to 3.


• The comeback falls short.  Another brutal loss.

• The Celtics come out of half shooting worse than they did in the first half. Jaylen Brown missed the rim badly twice.


• Evan Fournier and Payton Pritchard have kept things close. Fournier Hit a second 3 and cut another 11 point lead to 5


• The defense has picked up and Boston is on an 13-2 run after a Jaylen Brown 3-point play and layup to tie the game


• The extended run is 23-9 and it's being fueled by stops and good ball movement. <sarcasm>Amazingly, playing defense, running off stops, and moving the ball equals good things </sarcasm>


• As has been typical for Boston, they capped a big run with a bunch of turnovers and misses. They managed to make it a new game, though.

• OKC came out on a 12-6 run (including a 7-0 end to the run), attacking the C's and getting into the paint at will. Those resulted in some easy baskets, free throws, and then a 3.


• Fournier broke an 0-13 streak since his return, but that didn't snap him out of anything, really.


• The Celtics are really pulling the trigger too quickly on offense. They're not working for any shots


• The Celtics are now 4-21 from 3 (19%). Jaylen Brown and Payton Pritchard are 4-7.


• Boston cuts the lead to 4 or 5... then it falls back to 10 or 11. They're struggling to get over the hump.


• Pritchard and Brown have 35 of Boston's 49 and are shooting 12-20. The rest of the team has 14 points on 7-29 shooting

• Evan Fournier is struggling since his return from COVID. He airballed a 3 and missed a layup (dunk attempt?), though he was bothered a little bit on the layup. He did make a nice steal on that play


• The Celtics are settling for outside shots. There aren't many drive-and-kicks to this point, and they're missing (3-12 shooting at this point).


• The Celtics are shorthanded, and are now going with Payton Pritchard, Grant Williams, Jabari Parker, Marcus Smart, and Jaylen Brown.


• Aleksej Pokusevski has hurt the C's in a lot of ways. He has 5 points, 3 rebounds, 2 assists early on


• Payton Pritchard hit a couple of 3's, which Boston desperately needed. He's 2-2 from deep, everyone else is 0-6 at the 4:37 mark. He cut a 10 point deficit to 4.


• Jaylen Brown has done a good job carrying things early. He has 11 points in the quarter


• Grant Williams has done well so far. He had a nice defensive play, blocking a corner 3-pointer


• Pritchard has been very aggressive and crafty with his attacks. He has 9 off the bench.


• Ends of quarters have been unkind lately. With a chance to tie or take the lead, Pritchard traveled and then the Thunder tracked down a loose ball after some good C's defense and got a 3 from Isaiah Roby at the buzzer.

• Point Spread: Celtics -11.5


• Over-Under: 215 points


• Money line: Celtics -800, Hornets +580

The Skinny

Prediction