Kevin Durant helps Oklahoma City Thunder best Boston Celtics 97 – 88 – NBA Recap(Part 2)
Boston Celtics were charged up coming out of the interval and looked determined to haul in the Oklahoma City Thunder. They did a good job and put up quite the fight, clawing down the deficit to just a single point on more than one occasion. The Thunder though
always seemed to pull away at the last moment and used a 7 – 0 spurt to end the period, widening the gap to 10 points at 72 – 62.
Facing a double-digit deficit going into the final period isn’t a welcome sight for any team and it was doubly worrying for an aging Boston Celtics team that has also suffered because of early season injuries. The Cs however put up a spirited show and managed
to quell the OKC offence for some time by concentrating their defensive efforts on Thunder scoring sensation Kevin Durant.
Others however, such as point guard Russell Westbrook, stepped up for Oklahoma City and guided the side to the 97 – 88 win.
After the game, Westbrook spoke about Boston’s tactics late on and how his side dealt with them.
"They started doubling K.D. later in the game," Westbrook said. "I just tried to be aggressive and find my open spots."
"We stayed with it," Durant said about the nature of the last quarter. "We made some good shots. Our offense is predicated on the drive-and-kick; that's what we work on every day."
Celtics captain Paul Pierce wasn’t pleased at all with another defeat in what has been a testing season so far for his side, but took heart from the fact that Boston were still competitive.
"None of us likes to lose; that's the frustrating part," Pierce said. "I think I like where we are headed, there are just little things that are really killing us."
Pierce led his team in scoring with 24 points and also had 5 rebounds. The problem for Boston was that no one else got going on the offensive end. Star point guard Rajon Rondo almost had a triple-double with 12 points, 9 rebounds and 9 assists. Veteran forward
Kevin Garnett contributed with a double-double, 12 points and 12 rebounds, and also had 5 assists.
Ray Allen was particularly poor for Boston as he could only manage 6 points, perhaps as a consequence of facing defensive specialist Thabo Sefolosha. Mickael Pietrus gave the Celtics some help off the bench with 14 points.
The loss might not be too detrimental for Boston because they are still getting to grips with the shortened NBA season. The win though is very important for the Oklahoma City Thunder as they will look at it as another stepping stone to challenges in the
post season.
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