(Note: Before I start this post, I want to acknowledge something. Scott Brooks, who will probably be named the NBA’s Coach of the Year following this season, looks like he should be coaching prep school hockey instead.)

Damn you, Kevin Durant, and your blasted 37 points. But you are very, very good. (Photo by Elsa/Getty Images)

So, what happens when two very good defensive teams meet?

An offensive masterpiece that even  the Showtime Lakers would have been proud of, obviously.

A scorching Boston Celtics team spent the entire game on team fire, but couldn’t find the rim on any last-gasp three-pointers down the stretch, after Jeff Green’s two successive three-balls from the right win gave the Oklahoma City Thunder a little breathing room.  Green’s heroics, coupled with Kevin Durant’s 37 points and Russell Westbrook’s 21 points and 10 assists, were enough for the Thunder to avoid defeat despite allowing Boston to shoot 59.5% from the floor.  The final score was 109-104.

Durant and Westbrook were simply special.   Westbrook proved he belongs in the same class as Rajon Rondo and other All-Star caliber point guards, while Durant showed he may one day operate in a class all by himself.  The 6’10 small forward — can you even limit him by giving him a position? — was sensational, filling it up from every angle while destroying whatever Celtic received the unfortunate task of trying to check him.  Ray Allen tried first, to no avail.  Marquis Daniels was next, but couldn’t do a thing.  Paul Pierce switched onto Durant in the fourth quarter, after everybody’s else’s attempts to defend the future scoring champ were fruitless, and came up empty himself.  Is it even possible to guard a 6’10″ man who moves that effortlessly and shoots the ball so purely?

Not to sound as if I’m drooling all over Durant, but I’m drooling all over Durant.  He has joined Lebron in the category of players you just can’t duplicate.  There will never, ever be another Lebron James.  He’s too big, too powerful, and too skilled.  But there won’t ever be another Kevin Durant, either.  No man that size will ever walk walk the earth with the same combination of length, grace, poise and creativity.  It’s not happening.  Not only should you never compare Durant to any past NBA player, but you should never compare anyone to Durant either.  Not now, not ever.  He’s that uniquely talented.

And he simply murdered the Celtics.  He killed them softly, dropping 37 the quiet way.  Not even a Celtics team that shot the lights out could keep up with Durant and his flock of athletic youngsters.  Rasheed Wallace shot 7-8 from the floor, and it didn’t matter.  Rondo matched Westbrook’s double-double, adding 5 steals and 5 boards to go along with 16 points and 11 dimes, and it didn’t matter.  Paul Pierce showed no effects of his two shoulder stingers, and it didn’t matter.  The Thunder are for real and, in this extremely well-played game — at least offensively — matched Boston blow for blow before Green delivered the two knockout punches.

As always, punches hurt.  If you’re a Celtics fan, seeing such an exciting game was little solace.  Watching your team shoot damn near 60% from the floor and compile 30 assists means next to nothing after an L.  Two L’s in a row, as a matter of fact.  The momentum gained in Houston and Dallas means very little now, as the C’s will take a two-game losing streak into Friday’s game against the Rockets.

If only it weren’t for that damn Jeff Green, I could have been a lot happier right now.  As much as tonight’s game kept me on the edge of my seat, it made my heart sink to see Green apply the finishing touches on yet another troublesome Boston home loss.

Doesn't Big Z look gorgeous in this picture?

Paul Pierce, even after suffering a shoulder stinger yesterday during practice, will start tonight against the Oklahoma City Thunder, according to Chris Forsberg.  Consider my article earlier today completely useless, and enjoy a Pierce-Durant matchup.

Kendrick Perkins, who missed the last two games due to left knee tendinitis, will also start.

In honor of Shawn Kemp, the Supersonics jerseys.

Yesterday, Glen Davis was asked what strategy the Boston Celtics will use against the Oklahoma City Thunder. His response was simple:

“Stop Kevin Durant.”

Easier said than done. Durant has quickly become as feared a scorer as anyone in the NBA. He can score outside, or drive by you. He has a guard’s handles, and a center’s height and length. He can kill you softly or he can do it loudly but, as Durant’s 29-game stretch of 25 or more points earlier this season can attest to, he always seems to kill you.

But beating the Thunder would still be easy if Durant was a one-man wrecking crew. Sadly, for the Celtics at least, he has help.

Help to the tune of Russell Westbrook, perhaps the NBA’s best-kept secret, as well as a herd of other talented youngin’s. I don’t know why nobody talks about Westbrook being an elite, rising point guard, but the man is averaging 16.1 points, 8.0 assists, and 4.9 boards. If those stats aren’t enough to get you to believe in Westbrook, the following statement might be: HE’S 21 YEARS OLD! AND HE’S STILL RAW! AND HE HAS A LOT OF IMPROVEMENT LEFT!

Besides Westbrook, the Thunder’s embarrassment of young riches continues. There’s Jeff Green, the young man out of Georgetown pouring in 14.9 points and 6.0 boards. James Harden, only a rookie, who has repeatedly shown the ability to score. Thabo Sefolosha, an athletic wing who — even though he can’t score a lick — embraces his role as a defensive stopper. Serge Ibaka, a physical freak who caused Tim Duncan all kinds of problems a week ago. Eric Maynor, a backup point guard acquired midseason for next to nothing, who has proven himself to be a keeper. Not to take away from the rest of their stable of young horses, but there’s also B.J. Mullens. And he sucks.

Besides Mullens — nobody’s perfect, even Sam Presti — the Thunder are in good hands for the future. The present, even. Nobody would have ever expected the Thunder to progress so quickly, but there they are, only three and a half games out of the Western Conference’s second seed.

Their ascent has been breath-taking, especially for NBA aficionados who understand that young players aren’t supposed to contend so quickly.

“They interviewed Jeff Green after the game [recently] and he surprised me because he was like, ‘We’re a hard-working team, trying to win a championship,’” Kendrick Perkins recalled after Tuesday’s practice. “Well, no one picked Oklahoma City to even make the playoffs this year, but just the vibe in that locker room, to have one goal and that’s to win a championship as a young team, I found that kind of crazy.”

It isn’t the Thunder’s talent that’s so rare. Rather, it’s that so many young players with skills to burn have decided to put individual accolades aside to focus on nothing but winning. Players aren’t supposed to start that winning mentality until later in their careers. It often takes years of lump-taking before players decide nothing matters but a ring. But not in Oklahoma City.

The Thunder skipped a few levels in their development, straight from basement-dwellers to being within view of the penthouse, and I’m not quite sure how they did it so quickly. Maybe it’s because they have a group of competitive players with their heads on straight. Maybe a lot of the credit should fall on Scott Brooks, the coach who leads the way, or Sam Presti, the astute general manager who assembled the roster. It might just be a testament to Durant’s greatness, or Westbrook’s underrated impact. Perhaps it’s just something in the Oklahoma City air. Probably a combination of all the above.

Whatever the reason for it may be, the Thunder will be a playoff problem for some unlucky team this year, and are poised to pose issues for the rest of the NBA for quite some time. As good as they are now, it’s scary to think how devastating they’ll become with age.

But let’s not get ahead of ourselves. The Thunder visit Boston tonight, not down the road. And tonight, even before age makes them even more formidable, the Thunder are a more than competent opponent capable of striking the Celtics down on their own court. Especially if Paul Pierce sits out, and especially if the Celtics play passionless basketball like they did Sunday night against the Spurs.

The Celtics could use a return to winning ways, but to do that, they’re going to have to really earn it. And I can guarantee it won’t be as easy as “Stop Kevin Durant.”

Look at your man, now back to Caron Butler. Now back to your man, now back to Caron Butler. Sadly, your man isn’t Caron Butler.

But you can imagine what it could have been like if he were: Enjoy his parody of the odd but funny Old Spice commercial.

Mo Almond, back in his Utah Jazz days. (Photo by Melissa Majchrzak/NBAE via Getty Images)

The Celtics need an influx of young talent.  Watching the creaky bodies Doc Rivers sends on the floor each night, it is clear the C’s will need new, younger players with whom to move into the future.

One route the Celtics haven’t yet chosen to go, when picking up players, is signing a D-Leaguer.  The C’s have assigned their own players to the D-League, but when it comes to signing their own free agents they prefer old, past-their-primers recently bought out of a contract another team no longer desired.

The D-League Digest’s Steve Weinman, who you may know from his fantastic work on CelticsBlog, wrote two callups he’d make if he were Danny Ainge.  One of them, I didn’t agree with: Greg Stiesma.  Stiesma is the big, white goon who played collegiately for Wisconsin and looks like he should be out bailing hay rather than down low swatting shots.  He’s simply too limited for me to see him ever playing minutes in Boston.

But Weinman’s other choice, I would like.  It was the Maine Red Claw most ready for a callup: Morris Almond, D-League scoring machine. I’ll let Weinman take it away:

Enter Almond. The man is a scorer, plain and simple. He can shoot the three (40.1 percent this season, 38.2 percent in 88 career D-League games), get to the rim off the dribble, pull-up in traffic, finish with contact and convert at the foul line (81.1 percent from the stripe this season, 81.9 percent for his D-League career). Almond scores in bunches (24.5 points per game this season) and can play the two and the three. While unspectacular in other aspects of the game, he won’t be a fatal liability either. For a team that ranks 17th in offensive efficiency and second at the defensive end, an added scoring option for the second unit could hardly hurt at this point.

It doesn’t hurt that Almond has spent the last month and a half playing for Austin Ainge (recognize the last name?) for the Celtics’ affiliate in Maine. He managed to get his points rather efficiently while leading the league in scoring for a struggling Springfield team, but playing for the stronger Red Claws has really showcased how sharp Almond can be: Though he plays six fewer minutes and scores five fewer points per game in Maine than he did in Springfield, Almond’s effective field-goal percentage has jumped from 53.9 with the Armor to 59.3 percent with the Claws. When the Celtics’ bench is struggling to generate offense, it might help to have a guy like Almond to toss out on the floor for couple-minute bursts at a time.

Almond can score, in bunches, and do it efficiently. He’s fairly athletic, can shoot from outside, and excels in transition. Plus, he’s not on the wrong side of 30. On the Celtics, that can’t hurt.

He’d be cheap, and he’s talented, so why not? Oh, you mean Doc Rivers never plays youngsters, regardless how talented they may be?

Sorry, I’d almost forgotten.

One man's loss, potentially another man's gain.

One man’s loss can be another man’s gain. The trouble — the positive? — is that the same loss can also affect a team.

For Paul Pierce and the Celtics, Pierce’s damn shoulder injury couldn’t have come at a worse time. He was rolling. Everything was coming together, not just for him but for the team. The C’s were playing well, and Pierce was leading the way. Then a shoulder stinger happened against the Spurs, and it looked pretty bad. As Pierce sat on the ground, writhing, I saw the season flash before my eyes. Then he was up a minute later, after a lot of wincing, and still in the game. I breathed a sigh of relief, realizing the injury was nothing. But there was another stinger, in practice yesterday, and now Pierce will likely miss at least one game. Stingers don’t normally force a long recovery, but you have to wonder whether Pierce’s rhythm — and, in turn, the Celtics’ — will be affected by his potential layoff.

That rhythm had been there. Again. Finally. After a long absence. For both Pierce, and the team.

Pierce could finally get to the rim again, whenever he damn pleased. His penetrating ability had abandoned him long ago, but Pierce — for a stretch of games during the past few weeks — was back to his old, slithery ways of getting to the bucket. He was getting to the line again, scoring easy buckets down low, and working that spin move of his, the one manufactured from equal parts strength, tenacity, and footwork. He had scored more than 20 points in five out of six games after having reached that mark only two times in his previous 17 contests. There was a swag to his game, an aggression that hadn’t been there in a long time, and the C’s were feeding off a large dosage of Truth.

The funk was back. Actually, Pierce’s game is always funky. It’s not pretty, like Ray Allen’s. It doesn’t seem natural, like Kevin Durant’s. Scoring doesn’t seem to come easy to him, like Carmelo Anthony. He won’t blow you away with his athleticism, like Lebron.

He unleashes long forays to the hoop, pinballing off one player, spinning off another, and finally reaching the basket for a layup. It works, but it’s tough to tell whether it’s aesthetically pleasing or worse to watch than Kazaam. More than any other elite scorer in the league, perhaps, Pierce seems to will himself to score. Not that other top scorers don’t have a strong will to put the ball in the bucket; they certainly do. Scoring just seems to come a little more difficultly to Pierce. He has to work a little more than his peers, to accomplish the same results.

Even his jumpshot seems manufactured. There is nothing effortless about the way Pierce shoots. The ball comes off his fingertips and Pierce stands there, watching it head toward the rim but also trying to urge it into the basket. He’s no innocent bystander as his shots fly through the air. Instead, he’s pushing his hips into the shot a little, as if he’s trying to steer that round pill into its home.

Funny, Pierce’s outside jumper was the only thing not working for him as he continued his hot streak. It had been his greatest asset in the early part of the season, yet his only flaw as the 20-point games kept flowing. But everything else was working, and you could imagine what was going to happen once Pierce got hot from downtown: Fireworks. Buckets. More wins.

Sparked by Pierce’s resurgence, the Celtics were making a habit of winning. In Houston, in Dallas. Wins, sometimes even blowouts. The Spurs game, even before Pierce was injured, was a hiccup to be certain. But confidence was starting to swell in Boston, as the C’s began to take the shape of a team with hopes of winning the Larry O’Brien Trophy.

Now, Pierce is likely out. For a game or two, says Doc Rivers. But will he hop right back into his hot streak when he returns? Can the Celtics handle the Oklahoma City Thunder if Pierce has to watch in a suit? What about the Rockets? Will he even miss a game? Will he miss two? Do the Celtics lose them both if he misses two? Or just one? None? What if they do lose? Will their confidence be shaken?

The Celtics had finally started to answer questions that had lingered all season. But now Pierce goes down twice in a span of three days, and the questions flood back in. Pierce was peaking at the right time, and now he’s injured, and I might be a worry wart but I wonder whether it will screw everything up. Pierce’s momentum, his roll, his swag. Can he keep it up if he misses games? Will his shoulder even be okay?

As questions arise regarding his Celtics and teammate Paul Pierce, Marquis Daniels looms in the background. Way in the background. Behind Tony Allen, on the bench, normally with his warmup suit on. After weeks of consistent inconsistency, marked by several disappearing acts, Daniels has supplanted Allen in Doc Rivers’ doghouse. His reward? A few splinters, and a growing lack of confidence evident every time he steps on the floor.

Daniels probably watches the Pierce injury situation with keen interest. As the odd man out right now, Daniels stands the most to gain if Pierce misses a few games. When Pierce went down in practice yesterday, it was Daniels who stepped in with the first team. It is Daniels who will likely start tonight if Pierce can’t go, and Daniels who will probably play the brunt of Pierce’s minutes. It’s a chance for Daniels to regain Rivers’ trust, to establish himself as a player the Celtics will need come playoff time.

Really, it isn’t hard to imagine ‘Quis stepping up in Pierce’s absence, dusting off the cobwebs and playing a big role. He’s been a positive force off the bench at times this season, just hasn’t done it lately. He has the potential to make a big difference, just hasn’t done it lately. He knows how to play basketball, but just hasn’t done it lately. All he needs, it seems, is a little confidence. In basketball, self-belief is vital. If you think you’re going to make a shot, that basket looks big enough to fit a beach ball in. But if you think you’re going to miss, you’re probably going to do just that.

Recently, Daniels has been playing like he thinks he’s going to miss. Tentative, going to the basket. Hesitant, making his moves. Cautious, taking shots. He needs to let loose, to play with a little confidence, but he definitely isn’t going to gain that on the bench. With every game that passes, Daniels seems to lose a little more swagger.

But now Paul Pierce might be out, and Daniels is the one Celtic with the most to gain. With some extended playing time, maybe Daniels will snap back to being the player he’s been his whole career. If he does, the Celtics could gain something from Pierce’s injury.  An active and confident Marquis Daniels off the bench would be a nice weapon for Doc to hold come the postseason.

Of course, Pierce could start tonight and look great, rendering this entire column moot. Or Daniels could start, play thirty minutes, and not do a single thing. Or the injury might not affect Pierce when he returns. Or it could. I really don’t know much about the effects this shoulder stinger will have.

All I do know is, if Pierce misses a game or more, it will be both an opportunity and a threat.