Game 62 Preview: Celtics at Thunder

Will Avery Bradley and the Celtics keep the good
times rolling in O.K.C.?

This oughta be fun.

The Celtics (34-27) have their hands full and then some this afternoon as they travel to Oklahoma City to take on the reigning Western Conference champion Thunder (46-16).

Boston beat O.K.C. in Boston back on November 23, 108-100.

Today, Jeff Green returns to O.K.C. for the first time since being traded at the trade deadline in 2011.

Both teams come into today's matchup on winning streaks -- Boston has won 5 consecutive games to Oklahoma City's 4.

Kevin Durant, Paul Pierce, Kevin Garnett, Russell Westbrook, Shavlik Randolph? All in the same game?! Boy we are in for a treat.

Here's a preview:

Projected lineups:

Celtics:
Avery Bradley
Courtney Lee
Paul Pierce
Brandon Bass
Kevin Garnett

Thunder:
Russell Westbrook
Thabo Sefolosha
Kevin Durant
Serge Ibaka
Kendrick Perkins

Keys to the game:

1. Closing it out: Doc Rivers said after Friday night's game that he isn't particularly thrilled with how the Celtics have been closing out games of late. Sure, they've won five in a row, but they've blown double-digit leads on a consistent basis -- they had their largest lead of the night on Friday (12) and still went to overtime -- and made things difficult for themselves. Oklahoma City is one of the toughest places to play in the NBA. The capacity crowd at Chesapeake Energy Arena is always electric, and throw in the fact that O.K.C. has the third best home record in the league, and you have yourselves some big obstacles to overcome. The Celtics are more than capable of coming away with a victory this afternoon, but they need to be on their A-game.

2. 100: In my game preview on November 23, I stressed the need for the Celtics to limit the Thunder to under 100 points. When they score 100+ points, the Thunder are 41-7, with one of those losses coming at the hands of the Celtics. Furthermore, they're 26-1 at home when scoring at least 100 points. If the Celtics want to walk out of O.K.C. with a "W," they can't get into a shootout or else they will lose. Badly.

3. The supporting cast: One consistent theme of Boston's five-game winning streak has been its bench production. During the winning streak, the bench has averaged 35.4 points per game and has had one player score at least 12 points in each game. The Thunder do not necessarily have the best bench in the league, so this needs to be an area that the Celtics must take advantage.