The Oklahoma City Thunder fall to the Boston Celtics tonight 101-94 in frustrating fashion. The Thunder were in control of this game at halftime but the Celtics made a gradual comeback and took the lead midway through the fourth quarter. The Thunder couldn’t generate enough stops or enough offense to mount any real comeback. Here are your five takeaways from tonight’s Thunder loss.
1. The Thunder took a comfortable 55-37 lead into the half. OKC was once again flexing their defensive muscles and it appeared that the Thunder were on their way to cruise to their third straight win in blowout fashion. That obviously did not come to fruition. The Thunder were outscored 64-39 in the second half. The Thunder still lead 71-67 heading into the fourth quarter. But then Kyrie Irving and Al Horford blasted the Thunder for 13 points apiece and Horford, with the game in the balance, made two straight three’s followed by a pull up jumper to hand the Thunder a loss. It was truly a tale of two halves and Billy Donovan and Carmelo Anthony both said as much in the postgame. Billy D went on to say that the Thunder showed what they can be in the first half. That team was special and was elite on defense. But he said this Thunder team can also be what they showed in the second half. A sloppy, messy team that will lose many games if they don’t clean it up.
2. The Thunder Big 3 really struggled shooting tonight. Paul George had the biggest night, scoring 25. Russell Westbrook had a solid night, scoring 19 points and dished out 11 assists. And then there is Carmelo Anthony who mustered just 10 points on 3-17 shooting. The Big 3 scored just 54 points combined and collectively shot an awful 19 of 57 from the floor. That’s just 33-percent. That was because a number of things. Melo had a lot of open looks that just didn’t fall. That’s going to happen, but the Thunder really let their poor shooting seep over to their defense. The Celtics were able to catch fire and the Thunder sort of pressed on offense. Sets were not ran well. There was too much settling for contested shots or rushed shots. While this is an early season loss, the way in which it happened really stings.
3. The Thunder defense was near perfect in the first half. OKC kept Irving out of the lane in the and held the Celtics to 31-percent shooting. Both Horford and Irving scored just three points in the first half. But as the Thunder defense broke down, the Celtics were able to get to their spots on the floor that they like to get to. In the fourth quarter Irving was able to get past whoever was guarding him and was able to get into the lane. Kyrie was then able to score at the rim and as the Thunder sent more guys to him to try and contest him at the rim, Horford was left alone in the corner for open three’s. Horford killed the Thunder, knocking down five-of-five shooting in the fourth. The Thunder were scrambling on defense and Irving made the Thunder pay time and time again. Once he was able to break down the Thunder defense and get into the lane that ended up breaking the Thunder’s back.
4. One thing that got Boston back into the game was the Thunder’s lack of shot making in the third quarter. OKC’s offense was sputtering and missing open looks, which enabled the Celtics to get out in transition. The Celtics really were able to get their first open looks of the game in transition and that especially got Irving into a rhythm after having a really poor first half. Irving scored 22 of his 25 points in the second half. OKC settled too much for jump shots instead of getting downhill and trying to get to the rim. When Russell Westbrook tried to get to the rim, he was able to score. George was able to do the same. But there were too many times that the guys settled for long jumpers.
5. The OKC bench was also a tale of two halves. In the first half Alex Abrines and Patrick Patterson hit two three’s a piece. Neither hit a shot in the second half. Felton wasn’t very good tonight either. He scored just three points and forced some shots too. He seemed to be looking more for his scoring rather than just running the second unit. One of the bright spots was Jerami Grant. Again, he was better in the first half, but he scored 11 points on five-of-seven shooting and hit one of his two three point attempts. He’s been a really good player coming off the bench for this team. He’s been even better than he was last season.
The Thunder will be back in action Sunday night in Portland kicking off another three game road trip. Tip time will be at 8 p.m. inside the Moda Center.
