Boston Celtics: why tonight’s game against the Oklahoma City Thunder is a must win

The Boston Celtics have slipped as of late in regard to production on the court. Tonight’s game against the Oklahoma City Thunder could help whip them back into shape as they march through this final 20-game stretch.

Despite still having a top-5 record in the entire association, the going has been tough as of late for the Boston Celtics. After starting off hot post All-Star break (accumulating a record of 3-2, with two of those loses being asterisk deserving) the shamrocks have seemed to stall.

During their past four outings, Boston has managed to drop three of them. All of these loses came against playoff contenders, while their one win was against the bottom-feeding/ shorthanded Cleveland Cavaliers, and even that wound up being too close for comfort (C’s won 112-106).

In their defense, however, during this underwhelming stretch the Boston Celtics were without many key contributors such as Kemba Walker, Jaylen Brown and Gordon Hayward due to injury; something the team has seemingly struggled with all season.

This trend is expected to continue during tonight’s outing against the Oklahoma City Thunder, with Brown already ruled out and Hayward, though listed as probable, being nicked up yet again.

The last time the C’s and OKC squared off was during Beantown’s hot-streak heading into All-Star weekend. Boston’s entertaining February 9th 112-111 win over the Thunder managed to see all five of their starters score in double-digit points, Tatum’s excellence continue and stretch out the team’s win-streak to seven games.

But, oh, how that feels like such a long time ago.

Coming off an uninspiring defeat to the west’s fourth seeded Utah Jazz, some have started to question the efforts of this Celtics team of late, including the heart of the team himself, Marcus Smart:

"“Our effort was sh-t. …”, Smart said postgame after losing to the Utah Jazz.“We gotta punch first and then keep punching back.”"

All things considered, the Boston Celtics must come into tonight’s game swinging right from the get-go.

As mentioned earlier, when the C’s and OKC squared off last, Boston managed to come away victorious. However, this was while in the midst of their winning ways & when their core was fully healthy, and yet they still only managed to muster a win by the skin of their teeth.

Now, it appears the roles have been reversed, as the Celtics are in the midst of a losing period while Oklahoma City has won seven of their last nine outings and have enjoyed playing with a healthy core unit as they’re pushing towards a once seemingly improbable playoff berth in 2020.

After tonight’s outing, Boston will have 19 games remaining on their schedule. Of those 19 games, 12 of them will be against playoff contenders — including the two games following their matchup against Oklahoma City.

The best team’s manage to figure out ways to succeed despite adversity. For a majority of the season, the C’s have looked like one of the best squads the league has the offer.

The final stretch of the year has arrived and Boston needs to get back to their winning ways if they wish to head into their sixth straight postseason with momentum on their side. Their remaining schedule is certainly no cakewalk, which means every game counts from here on out — especially if they wish to rise in the Eastern Conference standings.

To halt their recent losing woes, restore confidence amongst the players and march towards the regular season finish-line with impetus, the Boston Celtics must come away from tonight’s home tilt with a ‘W’ against the competitive Oklahoma City Thunder.

If they don’t, matchups against the surging Indiana Pacers and Milwaukee Bucks become unnecessary urgent must-wins.