After blowing out the Houston Rockets, the Celtics traveled to the Sooner state for a Sunday matinee matchup against the Oklahoma City Thunder. In what could be a potential NBA Finals matchup, Boston struggled as their hosts won their 15th game in a row and defeated the Celtics 105-92.
Jayson Tatum led the way for Boston with 26 points and 10 rebounds, but it wasn’t enough to take down Shai Gilgeous-Alexander’s 33 points, 11 rebounds, 6 assists, 3 steals, and 2 blocks. The Celtics couldn’t hit anything from beyond the arc as they shot 9-46 (19.6%), their worst perimeter performance of the season. Boston scored 65 points in the first half and only scored 27 in the second half as the Thunder defense shut down the Celtics offense.
The game started with Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Jaylen Brown trading buckets as both teams set an aggressive tone on offense early. Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum were the primary defenders on SGA to start and committed to denying him the ball as much as possible. SGA was still able to get hot despite the Celtics best efforts, scoring 11 points on 3-6 shooting in the first quarter, but Brown matched him with 10 points of his own.
Both teams got off to an electric start, but Boston had a 35-32 lead after the first quarter of play. The Celtics were aggressive when it came to getting to the free throw line, going to the charity strip 11 times in the quarter. On the flip side, the Thunder shot 52% from the field to keep OKC in it.
With SGA on the bench, the second quarter started with the Celtics picking apart the Thunder’s paint defense. Every possession it was Kristaps Porzingis or Jaylen Brown blowing by the Thunder on the perimeter for a shot at the rim…