Wednesday night’s contest between two of the top teams in the NBA wasn’t exactly a fair fight.
The Celtics boasted a fully healthy roster — minus Jaden Springer — while the Oklahoma City Thunder were without MVP candidate Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and their second-best scorer, Jalen Williams. This was also the second night of a tough back-to-back for OKC; their shorthanded squad fell victim to a fourth-quarter comeback in Philadelphia against Joel Embiid and the 76ers last night.
Kristaps Porzingis got to work right away in this one, highlighting the notable size advantage Boston held over their opponents. Said advantage clearly deterred Oklahoma City from attacking the paint initially, as a majority of their first few possessions came up empty.
Jaylen Brown is typically Mr. First Quarter, but this time it was Jayson Tatum who attacked early and often, getting a couple of easy buckets at the rim in transition.
Tatum checked out and the second unit struggled to maintain the momentum Boston had built. A mini Josh Giddey run and multiple turnovers from Brown gave Oklahoma City a brief lead, before Boston’s top option returned to the game and immediately hit a triple.
Payton Pritchard has become quite the consistent contributor as of late, and that trend continued Wednesday night. The guard sparked a run to give Boston a 30-23 lead at the end of the first, racking up three assists and a bucket.
Porzingis and Tatum led the way in the scoring department, combining for half of Boston’s first-quarter points, while Horford gave his squad an early boost off the bench with six.
A lack of efficiency really stood out for the Thunder, who hit just 36.4% of their shots in the first 12 minutes, including going 1-10 from beyond the arc.
The Celtics’ defense swarmed Oklahoma City to open the second, racking up a pair of steals and blocks over the first three minutes. The size disparity once again stood out here, as Boston’s length consistently disrupted the passing lanes.
Porzingis made his presence known on both sides of the floor, playing a part in that defensive production before postering Chet Holmgren and Aaron Wiggins on a putback dunk.
Kristaps was only getting started, as he hit a myriad of tough shots to bump his points total to 17 at the half.
Defense and the three-point shooting disparity continued to be the tale of the tape, as Boston led 61-47 at the break. The Celtics racked up seven blocks and hit as many threes, compared to Oklahoma City’s measly two connections from long-range on 15 attempts. Ball movement also popped off the page for the Cs, as they doubled OKC’s assists after 24 minutes.
Giddey continued to get to his spots at the start of the second half, finding consistent success driving downhill. On the other side of the ball, Boston got sloppy, turning it over on frequent occasion while allowing the Thunder to attack the rim without resistance. Quite suddenly, that 14-point lead had been cut in half, forcing Joe Mazzulla to call a timeout. Brown specifically was struggling more than his teammates, racking up four early turnovers.
Mazzulla opted to sit Jaylen following these issues, giving Pritchard early third-quarter minutes. A couple of quick buckets between Horford and Tatum re-established the offensive fluidity, but the Thunder continued to hang around. Foul trouble played a significant role in that, as OKC hit the bonus with over five minutes left in the third and boasted a substantial free throw advantage over the Cs.
Tatum picked up his scoring in the latter half of the penultimate quarter, as he and Porzingis combined for 47 as Boston led 93-83 with 12 minutes to go.
Jaylen bounced back from his earlier struggles with a strong seven points to open the fourth. The superstar proceeded to play lockdown defense on Cason Wallace, forcing a turnover before setting up Jrue Holiday for the open three. After a tough first three quarters, it was encouraging to see Brown finish strong.
As it turns out, Brown waking up was all the Celtics needed to put this game on ice. In non-Tatum minutes, the rest of Boston’s core absolutely dominated the Thunder with a 20-3 run before Mark Daigneault finally gave in and called another timeout. By that time, the damage was done, as the Celtics had opened up a whopping 28-point lead.
Boston entered cruise control for the rest of this contest, emerging with the 135-100 win. Porzingis led the way with 27 points while Tatum finished with 24 and Brown ultimately poured in 23.
With their 60th victory of the season, the Celtics officially locked up the No. 1 seed across the NBA, ensuring that they’ll have the home court advantage for the entirety of the playoffs.
Next up, Boston will play host to the Sacramento Kings on Friday night at 7:30 p.m. ET in TD Garden.
