The Celtics beat the thunder as teams took divergent paths

The Celtics and the Thunder have both found a way to start telling their seasons on Thursday.

For Boston, there was something to be proud of. The team had the chance to end a catastrophic first period with only 16 points behind. To say that the offensive has had difficulties during the first 24 minutes of opening would be a euphemism. The Celtics could not buy a 3 and they had a lot of passes, they missed the mark while they have just amassed 34 points.

But in the third quarter, Brad Stevens and his team found a solution. After missing his first 11 triples to start the match, Gordon Hayward opened the second half with a three-corner that took the cover off. Kyrie Irving put energy into the ball by connecting himself to a pair beyond the bow. Jayson Tatum then joined the action with three others.

Still, the Celtics started with a 13-point hole with just under five minutes left in the third. That's when Al Horford got stronger. In 54 seconds, Horford took a tight basket all night and extended it with three free-kicks to reach the score of 70-64 and placed the thunder on the ropes for the first time of the night.

As Boston prepared for his return, Oklahoma City fell back. A third quarter in 23 points was not a complete disaster, but it laid the foundation for a lousy collapse. The Horford three-point play started a 19-4 run that ended the quarter and revealed the Thunder's inability to create the offense when he did not dictate the tempo coming out of the break.

In the fourth quarter, it seemed like the Thunder had found just what it took to hold the Celtics and win their first win. They led by nine minutes and there were four minutes and 22 seconds, then everything went down.

Some free throws of Tatum were followed by a failure of Russell Westbrook. Some free throws by Marcus Morris were followed by a maid of Paul George. An Irving bucket was followed by a Westbrook turn-over that set up more free throws from Tatum followed by another Westbrook missionary.

After Irving tied the game at 95 with less than a minute, there was still hope for the Thunder to win. But another failure of the former most useful player has set up a triplet of enjoyment at Morris that has virtually ended the night.

Westbrook missed one more goal, then George missed another after the Celtics pushed their lead to four. In the end, Oklahoma City left with a 101-95 loss.

The Boston grain was in full screen. Resume the fight and transform his fatal defect of the first half into his saving grace in the second. The Stevens attack remains problematic, but his team knows that even in case of failure, she can get back on track and win the victory. Losing the magic at home to start the week was not pretty, but the victory on the road lessens the pain.

On the other side, Billy Donovan must return to the board and find a way to win. The first two games of the season were on the road and Westbrook was out of the way. Of course, the team did not get the expected results, but the first defeats were not the worst. But since the return of Westbrook, the Thunder have lost at home against the Kings and Celtics and Westbrook and George have not been able to lead this team to meet their expectations. They scored well against Sacramento, but could not help their defense to stop late. And Thursday, they combined to shoot 12-by-42 and could get a bucket when the offensive would need it the most.

As both teams begin their weekend, their next games stand out as potential benchmarks just two weeks into the season.

The Celtics 3-2 hit the road to face a 4-0 Pistons team led by Blake Griffin on Saturday with a chance to show off their ugly offensive early in the season. Another win on the road to stave off the strong start of a potential playoff candidate is exactly what we should expect from a team in contention for a championship this season. If Boston can do exactly that, the loss for the Magic will only have an impact on the calendar.

The 0-4 Thunder hosts the Suns in Oklahoma City on Sunday and a 0-5 start is not an option for a team that was supposed to play for the top four in the West. Something must click on the offensive or defense. They can not be the team that gives up 131 points to the Kings and the team that scores a point in the last four minutes of a match it needs to win.

Boston is able to show that it can win at any time and any place after Thursday's return. Oklahoma City is in a position to fall into a possibly insurmountable hole early in the season after doing everything to lose Thursday.