Boston Celtics Lose Their Fifth Straight to the Oklahoma City Thunder

The Celtics dropped their fifth-straight game last night, losing to the Thunder 97-88.

Although they lost and at times their offense looked stagnant, this lost isn't a bad sign for the Celtics. After all, the Thunder is arguably the best and hottest team in the NBA right now. They have won their seventh-straight game.

If the Celtics can play with the leagues best and come close to beating them, then that should hopefully carry over to the games against lesser opponents.

Paul Pierce finally looked like his old self again to lead the way for the Celtics with 24 points and five rebounds. This is a good sign because Celtics fans were beginning to worry about The Truth (perhaps I was more guilty than most).

Hopefully this is a sign that he is back in shape and ready to play like his old self again because the Celtics certainly need him to be a go to scorer again.

Pierce's counterpart and recent addition Mickael Pietrus also played well. He scored 14 points off of the bench and hit three three-pointers in only 21 minutes.

While Pierce's good play was encouraging, Pietrus' play might be more encouraging because it will afford Pierce more rest throughout the season. Also, it will give some much needed scoring to a bench that has struggled mightily to put the ball in the hoop.

It wasn't only the bench that had difficulty scoring in this game though. Ray Allen of all people couldn't find his shot all game. He finished the game with only six points on two for seven shooting. Needless to say, the Celtics need Ray Allen to play more like he did at the beginning of the season if they want to beat elite teams like the Thunder.

Rajon Rondo didn't have a great game scoring the ball with only 12 points, but he quietly was just one rebound and one assist away from his second triple double of the season. It was an emotional game for him and the rest of the Celtics to face-off against former beloved teammate Kendrick Perkins.

For Rondo, it was especially emotional because him and Perkins are best friends and talk on the phone everyday.

It was good to see Perk back in Boston and you could tell that he was happy to be back too. And although he only scored seven points and grabbed five boards—his new team, the Oklahoma City Thunder, was still able to hand the Celtics their fifth-straight loss, and despite the good signs surrounding the loss—raise many questions as well.

The first and most prevalent is probably when are the Celtics going to start winning?

With a 4-8 record they should start winning soon because in this shortened and more competitive season, making the playoffs will be even harder.

Luckily, they have three easier games coming up against the Raptors, Suns, and Wizards. The Celtics will need to make use of these games to get back on the winning track.