OKLAHOMA CITY – The Boston Celtics can only hope their game against the Oklahoma City Thunder is a microcosm of their season: a dreadful first half and a gutsy second half.

Either way, they’d like the final result to be better.

Russell Westbrook scored 31 points, Kevin Durant added 28 and the Thunder sustained a late Boston rally and the return of Kevin Garnett before beating the Celtics 119-104 on Wednesday night for their 11th straight win at home.

It was the fifth straight loss for Boston, which hits the All-Star break a disappointing 14-16.

“We’ve got to come together as a group and understand we still have a shot at this,” said Paul Pierce, who tied Garnett for the team lead with 23 points. “We have tremendous depth when people are healthy. We know we can play when we’re right. We know what we can do when we’re right.

“We didn’t finish off this first half like we wanted to but hopefully the second half, we can treat it like the second part of the season and come back refreshed and re-energized.”

Garnett also had 13 rebounds after missing the previous two games for personal reasons, but the Celtics were still without point guard Rajon Rondo — as he served the second game of a two-game suspension — and three other regulars due to injuries.

Rondo was selected to the Eastern Conference All-Star team earlier Wednesday night to replace injured Atlanta guard Joe Johnson.

Boston trailed by as many as 27 in the third quarter before rallying to get within 108-102 after Pierce’s free throw with 3:31 left. Durant banked in a pair of jumpers and hit two free throws during an 11-2 run to close the game for Oklahoma City, tied with Miami for the league’s best record at 26-7.

Ray Allen’s jumper to start the fourth quarter got Boston within 94-82, and it got as close as six following an 11-2 run that came during a stretch when two Oklahoma City players were called for technical fouls.

“The guys just wouldn’t give up. We gave ourselves a chance there in the last three minutes. We just couldn’t get over the hump,” Pierce said.

Rivers credited Pierce for leading the charge, calling out the margin as the Celtics pulled within 20 and then 17, and so on. It never got any closer than six, though.