The Boston Celtics looked out of sorts on Tuesday night against the Indiana Pacers without the services of starting small forward Jae Crowder, ultimately falling short by a score of 103-98. Crowder, who had previously started all 66 games this season for the Celtics, suffered a high ankle sprain in Friday’s loss to the Houston Rockets.

Defensively, the Celtics looked relatively in control despite only having just three of their five starters dressed, as center Kelly Olynyk, who some expected to return from a shoulder injury, sat out once again. Where the Celtics really missed Crowder was on the offensive side of the ball, as the Eastern Conference’s highest scoring team was held to just 38.3% field goal shooting. One bright spot for the Celtics was power forward Jonas Jerebko, whose 17 points off the bench was a season-high for the 29-year-old Swede.

The Celtics will return to the court tonight at the TD Garden as they take on the Oklahoma City Thunder. Oklahoma City is the NBA’s only team with two players among the league’s top ten scorers, with small forward Kevin Durant in third with 28.0 points per game and point guard Russell Westbrook in eighth at 24.0 points per game.

In second place in the league in points per game with 109.8 on average, this high-flying and powerful offense scores fewer points than only the Golden State Warriors, a team vying to be the best team in NBA history. In one previous meeting this season, the Celtics stunned the Thunder 100-85 on November 15, holding OKC to just 11 points in the fourth quarter. The Thunder, however, were without Durant, who was out of the lineup with a hamstring injury.

Tickets to Wednesday’s Celtics-Thunder game, with tip-off scheduled for 7:00 p.m. (NOT the usual 7:30!!) are available HERE.

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