The Celtics were absolutely listless in this game, letting Oklahoma City dictate the game. Give credit to the Thunder for coming out with a renewed sense of energy on defense; Scott Brooks clearly made his team believe that the only way it would win this one was to focus on that side of the ball without its star in Kevin Durant. Brooks went deep into his bench—Royal Ivey played 16 minutes and D.J. White 12—but thanks to the offense of Russell Westbrook, the Thunder earned the victory.

The Celtics, on the other hand, never seemed to wake up. Twice in the second half—on a thunderous dunk from Paul Pierce and a monster tip-in slam from Rajon Rondo—it looked like Boston would go on a run and take over, but the C’s could never materialize a run. And despite playing arguably their worst overall game of the season, the Celtics still had a chance to win a game they didn’t deserve to be in. A better team (read: a team not missing two of its three best players) would have won this one in a blowout.

But that’s just the thing. As Washburn reminds us, the Celtics play down to their competition. They play with an arrogance and a swagger that is instrumental in helping them beat some of the best teams in the league, as they did twice against the Miami Heat, but also causes them to underestimate lesser opponents. And without Durant, that is exactly what this Thunder team was last night.

That’s not a death knell on the Celtics, of course. This is still a good team, and we saw last season what it can do when properly motivated come playoff times. But still, there were really no positives to take from last night’s showing. Here’s a few other notes, though, from the loss.

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The Celtics barely got the memory of playing the Thunder out of their heads, but now they get a rematch with Kevin Durant and the gang in Boston.

Since dropping that game to the C’s at home 92-83, the Thunder has reeled off wins in four of its last five games, including victories over Western Conference contenders Portland, Utah and Houston. But a stretch of good play can’t erase the fact that the Thunder let theCeltics jump out to a 22-point lead and could not catch up (thanks to some inspired play from Boston’s bench, which prevented an epic fourth quarter meltdown) last time these two met.

So what should we expect this time? Here’s a few things to watch out for.

1) Defense?: Let’s just say that in the Celtics’ last game, they were facing a team that was apathetic toward defense. Case in point: the Thunder are the fifth worst team in terms of opponent’s field goal percentage, allowing the opposition to shoot 48 percent a game. The only other team worse that has a record of .500 or better? The 6-6 Phoenix Suns, a team that clearly players the same way—get in a shootout and hope your offense plays a little better than the other team’s.

Well, this Thunder team clearly seems to be the same. After the C’s held it to a season-low 83 points, the Thunder has been back to its scoring ways, playing game with both teams in the 100′s.

Boston did a brilliant job of dictating the pace against OKC in the last contest, and should look to do the same here. In fact, it was the Celtics that took advantage of fast break opportunities and pushed the ball, taking the Thunder out of rhythm all night.

Should we expect that to happen again? Scott Brooks is a good coach, and he should have his team ready to adapt after it was humbled in the last game. The Celtics might not be able to stop Kevin Durant, but they limited everyone else on the court for almost the entire game (Russell Westbrook went off in the third quarter before settling down). That should be the focus again in this one.

2) Containing Durant: As was mentioned the last time these two sides met, Kevin Durant is the player that is most integral to his team’s offense (aka highest usage rate, which measures the percentage of offensive possessions a player uses when on the floor) in the league not named Kobe Bryant.

That shouldn’t be a surprise, but what might be is that a few of the other stats paint Russell Westbrook as OKC’s best player through its first 11 games.

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