The 42-20 Boston Celtics face off with the 39-24 Oklahoma City Thunder Sunday as the team tries to halt its recent lackluster play, having dropped three of their last four games.
The Celtics have had a rough time of late between injury and effort, and the result has been only five victories over the team’s last 10 games.
The Thunder, on the other hand, have been surging a bit of late with seven wins over their last ten games and an interest in adding another to avenge the loss the Celtics doled out on their home floor on Feb. 9.
While Boston will likely be getting veteran forward Gordon Hayward back from recuperating an injured knee sustained earlier in the week against the Brooklyn Nets, shooting guard Jaylen Brown will continue to sit with a strained hamstring injured in the same game as Hayward.
The Thunder will continue to sit guard Andre Roberson (knee) as well as reserve guard Darius Bazley (knee), but the core of the team driving their success this season should be available against the Celtics.
The two teams are well-matched when Boston is close to full strength, as we saw in the two teams’ last meeting, and should come down to the wire with Boston perhaps holding a slight edge due to having home court.
