Celtics' comeback bid comes up short against a very legit Thunder team
BOSTON -- The Boston Celtics may be the best team in the NBA, but in their first matchup of the season, the young and exciting Oklahoma City Thunder showed that they are not far behind. And on Tuesday night, the Thunder were the better team.
The Thunder brought it to the visiting Celtics in Oklahoma City, snapping Boston's six-game win streak with a 127-123 victory, pushing their own win streak to five games.
Tuesday night's tilt had all the feelings of a playoff game. The two teams traded punches in the first half, and Boston ended up leading by three at the break. That completely flipped when the Thunder trounced the Celtics, 40-25, in the third, as Boston's kryptonite quarter resurfaced. OKC built its lead up to 18 points with a 10-4 run to start the fourth.
The Celtics didn't quit though, and Boston closed the game with a 27-11 flurry to make things very interesting in the closing minutes. The Thunder just had too much boom in the end.
Like every other team in the NBA, the Celtics had no answer for Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, who put up another MVP-like performance for the Thunder. He finished with a game-high 36 points and made his 14-of-22 shooting night look easy. After going 7-of-9 in the first half, SGA went wild in the third for 16 points off 7-of-10 shooting. He weaved his way between any Boston defender that tried to slow him down, and he consistently punished the Celtics at the rim. Gilgeous-Alexander also dished out seven assists and ripped down six rebounds in the Thunder victory.
And when he went a bit cold in the fourth, others picked up the slack. Chet Holmgren canned a huge three with just over two minutes left after Boston cut the lead to six points. Jalen Williams dropped eight points in the fourth, including a pull-up with 26 seconds left after the Celtics had cut the Thunder lead to just two.
Josh Giddey hit a pair of free throws to help seal the win for OKC. The Celtics-killer drained four threes throughout the night to finish with 23 points.
The Thunder had no issues with the Boston defense, shooting 52.7 percent overall and 45 percent from 3-point range. It's not that the Celtics played bad defense, but the second-youngest team in the NBA was simply better than they were on Tuesday night. While most teams have to deal with a handful of mismatches whenever they play the Celtics, the Thunder don't have that issue.
Kristaps Porzinigis helped keep Boston afloat with 34 points off 12-of-18 shooting, adding 10 rebounds and three blocks. It was a small miracle that the Celtics were still in the game in the first half, with Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown hitting just five of their first 15 shots for Boston.
Tatum eventually shook off his tough start and finished with 30 points off 10-of-21 shooting. He also played some excellent defense against Gilgeous-Alexander down the stretch as Boston clawed its way back. And while Brown had a rare off night and shot just 4-of-18 and missed all eight of his threes, he did score nine points in the fourth as Boston went on its run. He finished with only 15 points though in one of his worst games of the season.
The third quarter is what did Boston in on Tuesday night. OKC hit 16 of its 26 shots and six of its nine threes in the frame. The Celtics had solved their third-quarter woes during their win streak, but the Thunder kept getting open looks and making the most of them.
The Celtics are one of those teams that should win every night. But there is little shame in losing to this OKC team, which already has wins over the Western Conference-leading Timberwolves, the Suns, and two wins over the Nuggets. The Thunder may be young, but they are legit. That was further accentuated on Tuesday night when they beat the best team in the league.
The Celtics will get another shot at this Thunder team on April 3 when Oklahoma City comes to Boston. We'll see if more matchups are in the cards when the NBA Finals arrive this summer.