Boston Celtics hold on to win over the Oklahoma City Thunder
The Boston Celtics held off a late push from the Oklahoma City Thunder to escape with a hard-earned 92-83 victory on Sunday 7 November at the Ford Center in Oklahoma.
Ray Allen led his team’s balanced attack as the sharp-shooting guard scored 19 points, while veteran forward Paul Pierce added 17 points for the Celtics, who blew a huge lead and almost absorbed
their second loss in their first seven games.
The defending Eastern Conference champions blew a 22-point lead in the third quarter, but reserves Glen Davis and Nate Robinson provided a huge lift, hitting crucial baskets down the stretch,
giving the Celtics a winning start to their four-game road trip.
“That whole group, they were absolutely terrific. They won the game for us,” Celtics head coach Doc Rivers said. “We came down, we got stops and executed, and Nate Robinson was terrific.”
Rajon Rondo finished with 10 points and 10 assists, and three-time slam-dunk champion Robinson chipped in nine points, while Davis racked up eight points and five rebounds for Boston.
“We've just got to continue to give our starters a lift off the bench and continue to do what we've been doing, which is playing together and having fun,” said Robinson, who was 4-for-7 from
the field.
Boston were comfortably ahead, 64-42, in the third period but the Thunder unleashed a huge rally behind the spectacular performances of Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook, trimming the 22-point
lead to just six points, 73-67, early in the fourth quarter.
However, the Celtics made a run of their own, sparked by Davis and Robinson, to build an 88-71 lead after a three-point dagger from Allen in 7:04 mark of the final period. Oklahoma City threatened
to make another comeback late in the fourth but the Celtics stepped up with their defence to hold off the gritty Thunder squad.
“In this league, everyone loses leads, but not the way we did today,” Celtics head coach Doc Rivers said. “We got up on a great team and then you have to keep playing that way to win the
game and stay up. We kind of let up. You can get away with that against a lot of teams. Not with a team with Westbrook and Durant on it. You definitely can't do that.”
Durant paced the Thunder with his 34 points and six rebounds, while Russell Westbrook racked up 16 points and 10 assists, but their efforts weren’t enough to overcome the bad start that they
had tonight.
“We wanted to play hard and get back in the game,” said Durant, whose team allowed the Celtics to build 58-37 halftime lead. “We had a bad first half and just wanted to redeem ourselves.
I think we were pressing it a little too much and causing turnovers, but you have to give them credit. They're a great team.”
The Thunder, who absorbed back-to-back blowout defeats against the Utah Jazz and the Los Angeles Clippers last week, dropped their record to 3-3 in their first six games of the season.
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