Final: Celtics 126, Thunder 122 - One good quarter pushes C's to 7th straight win

Game 14: Celtics (-12) vs. Oklahoma City Thunder, 7:30 p.m., TD Garden, NBCS Boston/NBA TV

Injuries: Boston - Danilo Gallinari, Robert Williams, Malcolm Brogdon (right hamstring tightness)  OKC: Darius Bazley (ankle), Tre Mann (back), Chet Holmgren (foot, out for season)

OKC probable starters: Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Josh Giddey, Aleksej Pokusevski, Jeremiah Robinson-Earl, Luguentz Dort

Refs: John Goble (#10), Lauren Holtkamp (#7), Andy Nagy (#83)

A little something about the game: The Thunder are a surprising 6-7, but they like to get up and down and try to score points in bunches. They are currently 9th in the NBA in points per game and #1 in field goal attempts. They happen to be 21st in field goal percentage, though, which drops their overall offensive rating to 20th (110.6 points per 100 possessions). Gilgeous-Alexander is a star, though, checking in as the league’s 7th-leading scorer (31.1 ppg). And at 54.3%, his field goal percentage is third only to Zion Williamson and De’Aaron Fox among the league’s top 30 scorers. Boston is getting back Jaylen Brown and Al Horford, both of whom missed the last game. 

How Boston wins: The Celtics wants to get out and push the pace off misses. According to CleaningTheGlass.com (which filters out garbage time stats), the Celtics are 6th-best in the NBA in points per play running off misses. They are in the bottom third running off steals, so all their transition opportunities are off misses. The Thunder miss a lot of shots, having the 5th-worst 3-point percentage in addition to their bottom-third shooting. The Celtics need to run off those misses and pile up the points. 

Defensively, don’t bother crashing for rebounds. Get back on defense and turn this into a halfcourt battle. CleaningTheGlass.com has OKC’s halfcourt offense at 18th, so force them to create offense rather than get cheapies off turnovers.

How OKC wins: Obviously, Gilgeous-Alexander will have to be special, which he often is. The Thunder are 8th in percentage of offense from fastbreak points and 5th in percentage of points off turnovers. CleaningTheGlass.com has them 3rd in points per possession off steals, so they clearly want to get out and run. They are on a back-to-back, so their ability to get those turnovers will be tested. They are forcing the most turnovers in the NBA right now (17.5) and the Celtics have the second-fewest turnovers in the league (12.8), so something will have to give here. Whichever number doesn’t hold will likely tell us who wins the game. 

Things I’m looking for:

- Jaylen Brown’s turn: Tatum flexed his MVP chops in Detroit while Brown nursed his knee contusion. Now with an extra day of rest and a need to limit Tatum’s minutes, let’s see Brown put together his case for All-NBA. 

- No, really, limit Tatum’s minutes: Maybe give him an extra couple of minutes on each side of his normal in and out times. Maybe try to sit him the whole fourth quarter. While we’re at it, Smart can use a rest, too, so…

- More Pritchard: This matchup might be more conducive to Pritchard playing well rather than trying to go against Detroit’s perimeter bulk. Brogdon remains out, and Smart played 43 minutes the last game. Let’s roll with Pritchard and see if he can put up a big number.

Follow along below or in the comments during the game, chime in, and let’s have fun.