Thunder Race Past Celtics 105-92 in Potential NBA Finals Preview

OKLAHOMA CITY — Jayson Tatum stood in the Celtics’ locker room after a jarring loss keeping his composure. They played other tough defenses on this road trip and won, he said. Boston didn’t pay extra attention to the Thunder game. They wanted to win all them.

Mark Daigneault did the same before the game, calling it 1-of-82, but the Thunder players couldn’t hide their excitement. Everyone knew these two teams could meet in June, and Oklahoma City delivered a statement victory, 105-92. The Celtics fared well against the speed, physicality and athleticism the Thunder trademarked through their 14-game win streak early. They faded badly late. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander blocked Tatum on one end and Isaiah Hartenstein hammered a two-handed slam over Derrick White on the other in the defining sequence.

“27 (points) in the whole half huh?” Kristaps Porzingis said. “We just didn’t get to our stuff, honestly. Some stuff we forced a bit and didn’t really give each other enough space. Some stuff they legitimately just played good defense and some we missed. It was a mix of everything. I would say we didn’t play up to our level at all in the second half … I don’t think we played selfish or anything like that. We just didn’t play good.”

Chet Holmgren and Alex Caruso will return later. The Celtics have been through every test, hardly looking at Sunday in January as a larger one. Porzingis later called the game a test, one where Boston played stupid after a strong start. Asked to pull a lesson from the win: he paused and opined that you can’t expect to prevail over a team like Thunder after leading by 10 points at halftime.

Shai Gilgeous-Alexander raced past the Celtics for nine points in under four minutes while dumping passes off to Cason Wallace for three and Isaiah Hartenstein inside. The Celtics didn’t look ready for their speed on either end. Jaylen Brown nearly lost the ball pass the ball against Jalen Williams around a screen, and plays later gave the ball away to Wallace, who set up Gilgeous-Alexander for an and-one finish the other way.

“They were a bit more aggressive, a bit more handsy,” Porzingis said. “So they forced some turnovers. They collapsed on us when we didn’t expect. The kind of stuff they do well. We just weren’t as sharp as we needed to, because we can make them pay for those overhelps or those reaches or those things that they do where they gamble a bit … first half was ours. Second half was theirs by a big margin.”

Boston only turned the ball over six times to the Thunder’s five in that half, Oklahoma City forcing nearly 19 per game to lead the NBA. The Celtics got lucky on at least four deflections though, and needed to find ways to slow the game down. Brown and Derrick White went to the free throw line to do so and stay within 21-17, then Brown posted Gilgeous-Alexander for a three-point play inside. Brown scored 21 points on 8-of-12 shooting and didn’t give the ball away again before halftime.

The Celtics found their chance to take a lead into the second units, Sam Hauser chasing down a loose ball into Boston’s defensive end before the Celtics swung him the ball through two passes to Al Horford for a go-ahead three late in the frame. Boston carried that advantage into the second quarter, when Gilgeous-Alexander took a seat for the first five minutes, where the Celtics outscored the Thunder 19-12 before the star rejoined Oklahoma City’s offense.

Porzingis cashed in three opportunities to post and cut past the Thunder’s many wings early in the second to take a 43-38 lead. Brown finished an and-one layup crashing into Wallace, then Luke Kornet, who played steady first half minutes, sealed Aaron Wiggins to expand their lead to 48-41. The Celtics looked like they’d try to shoot their way to a win early. In the second, Brown used an up-fake to step past Williams for a floater. White converted two more shots around the rim.

“Part of it was, they changed matchups,” Mazzulla said, comparing the first half to the second. “Then, they took advantage of our poor spacing and our poor screening. I think those were the two biggest things, and obviously, they probably upped the pressure a little bit. But those 17 points off turnovers, then multiple, multiple empty possessions with poor spacing.”

Gilgeous-Alexander returned on the following possession down by 10, initially unable to insert life back into the building. He slashed the lead from 13 late in the second to six into the third quarter with a pair of threes, Mazzulla pointing to a pair of offensive rebounds by the Thunder that kept them alive through that stretch. Tatum and Porzingis briefly built Boston’s lead back to 10, but the offense capsized from that point on. Five other players, including Brown, shot a combined 0-for-19 in the second half without any points.

The Celtics’ bench slowly dwindled in effectiveness, Payton Pritchard logging 10 minutes and missing all five shots he took in the loss. Hauser mismanaged a transition opportunity and drew some ire from Mazzulla along the sideline. Kornet fared well. He wasn’t the extra wing Boston needed against the Thunder’s small ball attack.

“I think (it) was just a lack of poise,” Brown said. “Seeing how the game was being called, seeing the adjustments and being able to adjust quicker. In the first half, we got the line, we got free throws, we got what we wanted. In the second half, we didn’t get to the line, they weren’t calling those touch fouls … it’s fine. We just gotta be able to adjust faster.”

The starters, however, provided the fourth quarter meltdown that marked their fewest points scored, 12, since Nov. 1, 2021. The Celtics’ 27 points after halftime marked their fewest since 2012, according to ESPN. It was an uncharacteristic downfall, sliding to 19.6% from three by the end of the night, but the Thunder have done that to opponents all season. Wiggins and Williams flipped the lead in Oklahoma City’s favor early in the fourth. Brown lost the ball to Wallace. White gave it away to Dort and the Celtics never recovered. Porzingis left the floor shortly after with five fouls, and when he returned Dort drained three after three after three away from Boston’s traps.

“That mid-third toward almost the end of the game was forcing and no space. It felt uphill playing,” Porzingis said. “Couldn’t get the momentum, couldn’t get the energy going for our side. Just a bad, bad second part of the game on our part.”