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Rajon Rondo and Russell Westbrook were both out of this game. Kevin Durant was actually pretty quiet tonight (for him) with just 21 points. But at the end of the day, the Thunder are just a much better team than the Celtics and unless everything falls right for Boston, a team with that kind of talent and experience is going to win.
The Celtics actually did start off shooting the ball very well. The problem is that the Thunder also shot well and kept right on shooting well finishing the game with 51.8% FGs. Reggie Jackson was huge with 27 points and Jeremy Lamb even stepped up off the bench with 13.
For the Celtics, Sullinger was plagued by foul trouble and finished with just 9 points and 8 boards before fouling out. Green and Bradley had 19 each and Crawford chipped in 17 of his own. As a team they finished with a respectable 96 points, but the problem was on the other end of the court. Giving up 119 points, even to a talented team like the Thunder, is not getting the job done.
I suppose I should point out that holding out Courtney Lee for trade purposes couldn't have helped. They were forced to turn to seldom-used Keith Bogans (who scored his frist points of his Boston career). In fact, the trade may have served as a bit of a distraction for the team.
But few expected a win tonight, so this loss comes with very little surprise. On to the next one in Denver. Perhaps with a new teammate to welcome.