Notebook: Thunder 119, Celtics 104

By Randy Renner, NBA.com

THE FACTS: The Oklahoma City Thunder used a huge first half (72 points) and big games from All-Stars Russell Westbrook (31 points) and Kevin Durant (28 points) to breeze past the Boston Celtics 119-104 inside Chesapeake Energy Arena. Oklahoma City sixth man James Harden added 17 as did Daequan Cook. Durant also had nine rebounds and six assists.

For the second game in a row though the Thunder came oh so close to blowing a big lead. They let a 26-point margin against New Orleans on Monday night shrink down to six before winning and tonight it was a 27-point cushion that also slipped down to just a half dozen with just over three minutes to play. The Thunder closed the game out with an 11-2 run.

The Celtics had all five starters in double figures led by 23 points from Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnett. Ray Allen dropped in 21 and Mickael Pietrus added 16.

The Thunder have won the first four games of this current five-game homestand while the Celtics have lost five in row and seven of the last eight.

QUOTABLE: "Our first half, against a very talented team, that was just beautiful basketball. We were moving the ball and running the court and I couldn't ask for better shooting. The we got a little sloppy in the second half and made some bad decisions."
--Thunder head coach Scott Brooks

QUOTABLE II: "We just have to stay focused. When you're up 25 points it's hard to stay focused."
--Thunder forward Serge Ibaka

THE STAT: In the first half the Thunder shot 56.5 percent overall and 66.7 percent (8-for-12) on 3-pointers. Oklahoma City only had two turnovers in the half (a season low) and outscored Boston 20-5 on the fast break. In the second half OKC was just 1-for-7 (14.3 percent) on 3-pointers and turned it over 12 times and was outscored 16-7 on the break.

TURNING POINT: That big first half (a 72-48 Thunder Lead) did in the Celtics. Boston outscored Oklahoma City 55-47 in the second 24 minutes but it was just too high a mountain to climb. The Thunder put together a 21-0 run in the first half to stretch their lead out past 20 points.

QUOTABLE III: "That stretch just killed us because if you get down to this team the likelihood of you making a comeback without someone making a shot is almost impossible."
-- Celtics head coach Doc Rivers

QUOTABLE IV: "We came into the locker room after the game and said the effort we played with tonight in the second half is what we need to do every game from here on out."
--Celtics guard Ray Allen

HOT: The Celtics started the game by hitting five of their first six shots (83.3 percent)...Oklahoma City went 10-for-14 (71.4 percent) in the last seven minutes of the first quarter. ... Overall in the first half the Thunder shot 56.5 percent and were even better from long range (66.7 percent) on 8-for-12 shooting. ... Garnett was 6-for-7 (15 points) in the first half.

NOT: The Thunder started 1-for-10 (10 percent) and even missed half their free throws in the first five minutes (3-for-6). ... Boston was 4-for-11 (36.3 percent) in the last seven minutes of the first quarter. ... Ibaka was 0-for-4 (0 points) in the first half...Durant was 4-for-13 in the second half.

INSIDE THE ARENA: A lot of green. A few hundred Celtics fans managed to make it inside Chesapeake Energy Arena, by far the most fans for any opposing team at "The Peake" this season.

GOOD MOVE: Rivers told reporters before the game, "we'll probably have to go small a lot" with the Celtics injury situation. Rivers started the game with a small lineup using the 6-6 Pietrus at a forward spot and starting Garnett at center in place of injured Jermaine O'Neal. It worked early as Boston jumped out to a 15-5 lead.

GOOD MOVE TOO: When Brooks put his second unit in late in the third quarter, Rivers opted to go with his starters. That moved prompted a 16-4 run for Boston and cut a 90-64 Thunder lead down to 94-80 going into the final 12 minutes.

BAD MOVE: Celtics backup point guard Avery Bradley, starting in place of the suspended Rajon Rondo, fired a behind-the-back pass to ... no one in the third quarter. He was hoping to hit Pietrus but he was moving toward the left elbow as Bradley sent his pass toward the baseline.

NOTABLE: Oklahoma City has now won 11 straight games at home ... the team's 26-7 record is the second best in franchise history. ...The 35 points scored by the Thunder in the first quarter was the highest output for OKC in a first quarter this season and the most allowed in any first quarter by Boston ... ditto for the 72 first half points scored by OKC and given up by the Celtics. ... Thunder center Kendrick Perkins was whistled for a technical foul in the fourth quarter, his 11th of the season. ...The 31 points for Westbrook marks the first time in his career that he has scored 30 or more in three consecutive games.

UP NEXT: For the Celtics, Feb. 28th @ Cleveland, Feb. 29th vs. Milwaukee, March 2nd vs. New Jersey. For the Thunder, Thursday vs. LA Lakers, Feb. 29th @ Philadelphia, March 1st @ Orlando.