Dennis Schroder’s steal and layup with eight seconds left sealed the deal to give the Thunder a 105-104 win , and their 40th win on the year.

The Thunder were lead by veteran guard Chris Paul with 28 points, and Dennis Schroder coming off the bench with 27 points.

The Celtics were lead by Gordon Hayward who poured in 24 points, while Marcus Smart and Jayson Tatum chipped in with 19 in the loss. This marks the 4th straight loss at home for Boston, as they missed the chance to clinch a playoff berth.

My thoughts

Well this probably has to be up with one of the bad losses on the year for the Celtics. Boston had it in the bag, all they had two do was get fouled, make both free throws, and don’t foul them shooting a three like the Brooklyn game. But Kemba got his pocket picked and Schroder played it in for two to seal the win for OKC. The Celtics haven’t been playing well lately and it is time to get their act together.

Gordon Hayward I thought played really well tonight, along with Marcus Smart. Jayson Tatum was struggling a little bit tonight, and Kemba still hasn’t found his groove since All-Star break. It does hurt not having Jaylen Brown out there, because he is a guy that can fill up the scoring column along with Tatum, and right now we don’t have much offense.

I hate to say it, but Brad Stevens needs to give less minutes to Grant Williams and Brad Wanamaker. Those two are awful for the Celtics, don’t provide scoring and are just very inexperienced. Enes Kanter is a guy who rebounds well and can give you 10-12 points off the bench, but Brad doesn’t play him for some reason. Brad is trying to give these guys playing time to “prepare for the playoffs”, but let’s be honest if Brad plays the bench a lot in the playoffs, we are going to struggle when we take out guys like Tatum or Kemba.

The one thing I wish Danny Ainge did was bring in a scorer off the bench, we have no guys who can score off the bench. When Smart comes off the bench, he carries the Celtics bench in scoring. Kanter can give some points off the bench as well, but he isn’t a dominant scorer. Besides those two, everyone else can’t score, because they are inexperienced and rookies.

We need a guy like Isaiah Thomas or Jamal Crawford. Those are two guys who can come off the bench and can give you buckets. You look at these top teams like the Bucks, the Clippers, the Lakers, they all have a deep bench for when their best players check out of the game, they won’t miss a beat. The Celtics bench is a weakness for this team, and we need someone to step up and help the Celtics when they take Tatum or Kemba out of the game.

I am probably just saying all of this because I am a little mad on the loss, but I still believe in the Celtics. When everyone gets healthy, this team could be scary, but we NEED to improve our bench. The Celtics need that second seed in the East to get a good first round matchup, and to get home court if they advance to the semi-finals.

Next game for the Celtics is against the Indiana Pacers on Tuesday in Indiana. This is a huge game as the Celtics need a win to get back on the winning track.

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