At home, the Celtics have a 32-3 record. With 15.2 fast break points per game, Boston is fifth in the Eastern Conference. Jaylen Brown leads the team with an average of 4.4. The Thunder have a road record of 23–15. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander leads Oklahoma City, which is eighth in the league in scoring with 15.6 fast break points per game, averaging 3.5. This season, the Celtics have made 16.6 3-pointers on average per game, 3.2 more than the Thunder’s average of 13.4 made field goals. The Thunder’s field goal percentage of 49.9% is 4.6% higher than that of the Celtics’ opponents’ 45.3% for the season.
The teams meet for the second time this season. The Thunder won 127-123 in the last matchup on Jan. 3.
TOP PERFORMERS: Jayson Tatum is scoring 27.2 points per game with 8.3 rebounds and 4.9 assists for the Celtics. Brown is averaging 18.1 points and 3.6 rebounds while shooting 52.3% over the past 10 games.
Chet Holmgren is averaging 16.7 points, 7.9 rebounds and 2.4 blocks for the Thunder. Josh Giddey is averaging 17.0 points over the last 10 games.
LAST 10 GAMES: Celtics: 8-2, averaging 121.3 points, 42.5 rebounds, 27.9 assists, 7.3 steals and 5.6 blocks per game while shooting 49.2% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 108.3 points per game.
In an attempt to recover from a close loss on Tuesday, the Oklahoma City Thunder will play the Boston Celtics on the last night of a back-to-back on Wednesday night. Despite leading for the majority of the game and fading late without Shai Gilgeous-Alexander or Jalen Williams to guide them as shot creators, OKC fell short of the Sixers on Tuesday, losing by just four points.
Boston is just one win away from 60 on the season, obviously boasting one of the best regular seasons we’ve seen in some time. Even fully healthy the game would already be an uphill battle, but having a hobbled pair of stars will make it that much tougher.
If its stars remain on the injury report, Chet Holmgren will need to replicate his success Tuesday with similar aggression. And the team will need to get off to a quicker shooting start than it did in Philadelphia.
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