Final: Thunder 118, Celtics 112 - C's go cold, OKC pulls away

BOSTON CELTICS (47-18) vs. OKC THUNDER (53-12)

TD Garden, 7:30 p.m. - ESPN/NBCS Boston

Line: Celtics -2.5

INJURIES

Boston: Kristaps Porzingis (OUT, illness)

OKC: Jaylen Williams (OUT, hip), Nikola Topic (OUT, knee), Ajay Mitchell (OUT, toe), Alex Caruso (QUESTIONABLE, illness)

THINGS I’M LOOKING FOR

1. Size matters: Bigger players bother the Thunder, and Boston has plenty of that, so lean into some bigger lineups. Maybe a stint of Torrey Craig with the Jays and two bigs. Throw as much size as possible out there and see how they handle it. 

2. Mental toughness: The Thunder are a handsy, physical team. They will bump and push and foul and the refs won’t call all of it. If the Celtics can push past complaining to refs, they’ll be fine. If they don’t understand that this is how it’s going to be, then they’ll get caught up in complaining instead of getting back and they’ll lose. 

3. Adjusting on the fly: The Celtics struggled to adjust to OKC’s shift in defensive strategy in their first matchup. The result was their worst half of basketball … which was unfortunate because it followed their best half of basketball this season. Mark Daignault is crafty. Mazzulla and his staff have to keep up. 

Follow along with my thoughts as the game goes on. They’ll show up below and in the comments section, so hop in and share your opinion as well.