BOSTON — For the majority of the opening month of the season, the one thing the Celtics once relied on wasn’t there. Defense was their calling card in their run to last season’s NBA Finals, but their strong start this season was fueled by their league-leading offense.
For three quarters on Monday night, the theme continued. But when they needed it most, the Celtics reached back and found it.
On a night when their outside shooting was uncharacteristically poor, after playing one of their worst halves of the season and despite playing wretched, uninspiring basketball for most of the night, the Celtics rallied. The C’s trailed by as many as 15 in the second half, but fueled by strong defense, flipped the game in the fourth to earn their seventh consecutive victory, a 126-122 win over the Thunder.
