Thunder at Celtics preview: JDub and Caruso out, last meeting, where to watch

Oklahoma City visits Boston in one of the biggest NBA games of the week, a potential NBA Finals preview.

Wednesday, March 12th 2025, 5:32 pm

By: News On 6, News 9

BOSTON -

The Boston Celtics face the Oklahoma City Thunder in a potential NBA Finals preview on Wednesday night. The Celtics (47-18) have won five straight and are second in the East, while the Thunder (53-12), top in the West, have won seven of their last eight.

Last time out for the Thunder, Nikola Jokic had 35 points, 18 rebounds and eight assists, as the Denver Nuggets beat Oklahoma City 140-127 on Monday night.

Jamal Murray scored 34 points for the Nuggets, who lost 127-103 in Oklahoma City on Sunday.

Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, the NBA’s leading scorer and a top contender for league MVP with Jokic, finished with 25 points for the Thunder. He scored 40 the day before.

Lu Dort had a season-high 26 points and made eight 3-pointers and Isaiah Hartenstein scored 20 points for Oklahoma City.

The loss snapped a seven-game win streak for the Thunder. Boston is coming off of a win over Utah on Monday, 114-108 as Sam Hauser became only the 4th Celtics player in history to make 9 three's in a game.

Sunday's game with the Lakers continued to show how Boston is one of the favorites in the East, as Jayson Tatum went for 40 points, 12 rebounds, eight assists and two steals, while Jaylen Brown added 31 points, six rebounds and three steals in a 111-101 Celtics win.

This was the 29th time that Tatum and Brown have each scored 30-plus points in a game, which is the fourth-most by any duo since the NBA/ABA merger.

Lineups

Jalen Williams has been ruled out for the game against the Celtics with a hip injury. Williams left the game in the second quarter in Monday's loss to Denver. Alex Caruso is out with an illness. Kristaps Porzingis and Jayson Tatum are listed as questionable for Boston. Jaylen Brown listed as probable.

Last Matchup

Shai Gilgeous-Alexander scored 33 points and grabbed 11 rebounds, leading the Oklahoma City Thunder to a 105-92 victory over the Boston Celtics on January 5th, marking a franchise-record 15th consecutive win at the time.

Jayson Tatum led the defending NBA champion Celtics with 26 points and 10 rebounds, while Jaylen Brown contributed 21 points but struggled in the second half, going scoreless on 0-for-7 shooting.

Gilgeous-Alexander helped the Thunder jump to an early lead with nine points in the first 3 1/2 minutes, but Boston came back to lead 65-55 at halftime.

Oklahoma City closed the gap to 80-76 by the end of the third quarter and regained the lead early in the fourth when Jalen Williams made two free throws to put the Thunder up 81-80.

From there, the Thunder held control, with Lu Dort hitting back-to-back 3-pointers to push the lead to 100-88 with just under two minutes remaining. Dort finished with 11 points and was perfect from beyond the arc in the fourth quarter, making all three of his attempts.

Celtics connected on just 9 of 46 attempts from deep. Thunder outscored Boston 29-12 in 4th quarter.