Three takeaways from OKC’s 112-111 loss to the Celtics

Something had to give on Sunday. Both teams came in on winning streaks, and with the victory, Boston extended theirs to seven in a row.

Oklahoma City saw their four-game winning streak snapped on Sunday afternoon when they were edged 112-111 by the Boston Celtics.

Something had to give in the game. Both teams came in on winning streaks, and with the victory, Boston extended theirs to seven in a row.

Here are three takeaways from Sunday afternoon’s loss in OKC.

 

Lu Dort struggled with foul trouble

Dort remained in the starting lineup on Sunday but showed his youth a little bit with his inability to stay on the court. He played just 12 minutes in the loss due to foul trouble.

He picked up his third personal with 4:45 left in the second quarter and was saddled with his fourth early in the third.

According to Erik Horne of The Athletic, Dort has one of the highest foul rates in the league this year.

Defensively, Terrance Ferguson was able to come in and pick up where Dort left off, but Ferguson wasn’t any type of offensive threat during the 26 minutes he spent in the game.

 

Hamidou Diallo got back on the court

With Dort in foul trouble and Darius Bazley lost to injury in the first quarter, Hamidou Diallo saw his first action in the last two games.

It wasn’t much, however. Diallo came in when Bazley sprained his right knee at the end of the first quarter. Diallo ended the night with just two points in five minutes of game time.

The return of Terrance Ferguson coupled with the elevated play of Dort has made the rotation much more crowded this month. Billy Donovan said recently that playing 11 or 12 guys is just too much and that figuring out a consistent rotation is something that he’s still working on.

 

Enes Kanter returns to OKC

The Oklahoma City fans have seen several former players return in recent months. Sunday, it was Enes Kanter.

They seemed happy to have the former Thunder center back in the building, and Kanter appeared happy to be back.

Kanter came off the bench to score four points and grab eight rebounds in 17 minutes of play.

He spent three seasons with the Thunder from 2015 through 2017 and averaged a career-high in scoring during the 2016-17 season.

Kanter recently announced that he wants to build a charter school in the Oklahoma City community.