BOSTON — The Oklahoma City Thunder will finish the season as the only team in the NBA without a loss to the Boston Celtics on their schedule. After a clutch fourth quarter led to a win in early January, the Thunder traveled to Boston on Wednesday night for their second (and final) game against the reigning champs. And they got a win.
Led by Shai Gilgeous-Alexander’s 34-point night, the Thunder bludgeoned the Celtics with elite physicality, impressive defensive rotations, and impressive shot-making. Meanwhile, an ugly night from Jaylen Brown contributed to a less-than-stellar showing for the Celtics, especially on the defensive side of the ball.
Yet the three-point numbers will undoubtedly stand out most of all.
Celtics threes weren't the problem vs. Thunder
Boston chucked up a franchise-record 63 three-point attempts on Wednesday night. The Thunder sent multiple bodies at Jayson Tatum in the pick-and-roll and did a phenomenal job rotating behind the ball. This left guys like Al Horford, Derrick White, Jrue Holiday, and Payton Pritchard wide open behind the arc.
However, only two of those four made the most of their gifted opportunities.
Horford and White combined to shoot 12-of-24 from beyond the arc. A clean 50.0% from distance. The same cannot be said of Holiday and Pritchard, who shot just 3-of-16 on their attempts. Brown also fell short from distance, going 0-of-5.
Gut reactions may lead to frustrations with Boston’s shot profile. But they simply took what OKC’s defense gave them—a principle they have lived by for the past three years since Joe Mazzulla took over as head coach. The very principle that helped them win a championship last year.
As far as adjusting their game plan vs. trusting the math that more shots should have fallen? Mazzulla leans toward the latter.
“I think it will just depend on how many were catch-and-shoot off really good two-on-one reads,” he said. “If we got touch before, was it the right read? So, I think you look at all those things there. I thought we generated a lot of catch-and-shoot opportunities, a lot of paint touch to kick-out opportunities.
“So, you got to keep them off the free throw line and get stops so we can get out and transition, but for the most part, I think they were catch-and-shoot and two-on-one kick-out opportunities.”
The Celtics didn’t grow into one of the best basketball teams in the league by straying away from their offensive ideals. If a shot is open, they will accept it.
In a six-point loss, the Celtics gave up a string of crucial offensive rebounds in the first quarter. They gave up 35 free-throw attempts to a Thunder team hell-bent on getting to the line (and one that’s lethal when it gets there). They missed open threes, but the threes themselves weren’t the problem.