(Recap delayed due to power outage)
Paul Pierce and Eddie House gave the one-two combo that finally shook the Thunder. Glen Davis finished them off.
Glen Davis got knocked down and was cut. When he returned with 10 stitches, he took it out on the Thunder. Delivering 15 points in the final eight minutes (ten in the final five minutes) Davis knock them down and out.
The Oklahoma City Thunder, a young up and coming team ran with the big dogs for almost three quarters before the Celtics put them away, 103-84.
Pierce and House – Potent Combo
Behind Paul Pierce’s second half assault of 20 points and Eddie House’s clutch shooting (14 points in the half), the Celtics pulled it all together to take back the lead to end the third.
On the strength of two Kevin Durant free throws, Oklahoma City had their biggest lead at eight points at 60-52 with 6:53 left in the third. Pierce scored 6 straight Celtic points to keep Boston close before Eddie House delivered yet another clutch shooting performance. Hitting two threes and scoring nine straight Celtic points, House put the Celtics in front at 67-65. Pierce then added two jumpers to give the Celtics a three point lead going into the final stanza, 71-68.
House and Pierce continued their 1-2 punch into the fourth quarter, until Davis returned and delivered the KO.
From the nine minute mark of the third (52-51 Celtics) until the eight minute mark (80-72 Celtics) of the fourth, Pierce and House scored all 28 Celtics’ points.
Davis Comes Off Canvas For Knock Out
After getting nearly TKO’d in the middle of the third period, Big Baby returned at the 9:42 mark of the 4th, with the gash stitched up in his left upper forehead. He proceeded to deliver a furious knock out ‘flurry’ of points. It was unofficially called his first triple double, 19 points, 10 rebounds and 10 stitches.
What Happened
As Davis grabbed one of the six offensive rebounds he totaled, Kevin Durant’s elbow came across the top of his forehead, sending the nimble big man into a spinning knock down and somersault. Davis came up dripping blood.
Unbeknown at the time, Durant awoke a sleeping giant. After getting sown up in the locker room, Davis returned with what built up to be an offensive explosion. Crushing any hope the Thunder had of staying close, Davis hit on 6 of 7 shots, grabbed 4 rebounds, while adding a neat wrap around ‘tap away’ steal on Russell Westbrook, taken from the Rajon Rondo bag of tricks.
In the first half, Davis dove to floor to save an errant Rondo pass and from the prone position, side armed a great pass over to Rondo who drove underneath and passed to an open Ray Allen for three points.
Even without the point explosion, Davis’ defense has been remarkably good in the past few games. He is moving well and provides a big physical presence without fouling. He seems to be really fitting into the schemes extremely effectively.
Everyone contributed.
Rajon Rondo had 12 assists and 5 rebounds. Perkins added 3 big blocks, big time defense, and 8 rebounds. Mikki Moore tied his season high wih 12 points and grabbed 11 rebounds. Ray Allen kept the Celtics in the game in the first half with 12 points on four three pointers.
Stephon Marbury looked like he is starting to really fit. He played solid defense and even had much taller assignments in Jeff Green and Kevin Durant. He was able to hold his own, while distributing 7 assists in just 21 minutes.
The Celtics had to overcome a young, energetic, fast breaking team with a surprisingly tenacious defense. There were multiple 24 second shot clock calls and far too many shots taken late in the shot clock for the NBA Champions. Even when faced with multiple Celtic passes, the Thunder rotated surprisingly well.
Boston is still in the hunt for the second seed in the East come play-off time. They are in a 5 straight home game stand and it is possible that they could luck out with some help from the Magic. The Magic have games against Cleveland (H), Atlanta (A), and Houston (A) left on their schedule.
Boxscore from Yahoo…
