Celtics (26-9) at Thunder (29-5) Game #36 1/5/25

[Billz401]

Refs were complete garbage but you can blame this L on JB who left his handles back in boston, Jrue who cant play defense anymore, and Pritchard who was lost out there tonight.. on to Denver

[Goldstar88]

Pure emasculation by OKC. On the only game of the road trip that mattered, the Cs were absolutely destroyed by OKC without Chet and Caruso. Just a pathetic 2nd half performance.

They weren?t destroyed. The Celtics were handling them in the first half, but couldn?t make a shot in the 2nd half. Boston isn?t beating anyone shooting 36% from the field and 19% from 3pt. They were missing wide open shots.

You're right.  At the same time it's discouraging to see the lack of adjustments and the inherent laziness we frequently play with.  If our 3 pointers aren't falling, we lose.  With talented starters who can score at multiple levels that shouldn't be the case.

Yep. Wish they would have played inside-out like they did in the first half. It was working pretty well.

[Billz401]

I think they can just keep Scal after this today. Guy literally fanboy'd OKC the entire game.

My thoughts exactly. Was one of the few times he has annoyed the heck out of me. He was obnoxious

[radiohead]

We?ve now had 2 convincing losses against the 2 teams who are the most likely threats to keep us from repeating - Cleveland and OKC. We?re not dominating teams the way we did last season. We?re still right up there, but we?re not clear cut favorites as of now. Should Brad make a move? I?m hoping it?ll be different in the playoffs but it sure looks like Big Al and Jrue have regressed from last season.

[ozgod]

Didn?t make their shots when they needed to, against a top team like OKC the margins for victory are very small

[PAOBoston]

Pure emasculation by OKC. On the only game of the road trip that mattered, the Cs were absolutely destroyed by OKC without Chet and Caruso. Just a pathetic 2nd half performance.

They weren?t destroyed. The Celtics were handling them in the first half, but couldn?t make a shot in the 2nd half. Boston isn?t beating anyone shooting 36% from the field and 19% from 3pt. They were missing wide open shots.

Lost by double digits. Blew 10 point lead. Scored like 27 points in the entire half. Literally the definition of getting destroyed/emasculated in a half.

[Redz]

Pretty impressive second half by OKC. They were swarming on D.  JB disappeared.  Also a little concerning to see a team making Pritchard pretty much useless out there after the way he?s played all year.  We will need his offense. 

On the bright side Porzingis was as spry as he?s been this season. 

SGA is a lot of fun to watch. 

[Phantom255x]

I agree with what everyone is saying and ultimately it's only one game. I'm not letting it ruin my day (although the Pats winning and losing the #1 pick also has me MAD lol). We played an awful 2nd half and OKC were dominant. It happens.

But ultimately, my takeaway is that this team absolutely needs to add more to the bench if they want to make a Finals run again.

It's not just about our team, but the fact that the field around us has gotten better and deeper too. OKC today was missing Chet and Caruso btw. CLE has top-end talent but they also have awesome depth. A few other teams like NY also have great starting 5s that can battle ours.

Hauser and Pritchard are pretty good for us but there are times when their shots aren't falling and it can hurt us later in the playoffs against a team like CLE/OKC when the scoring dries up. Idk if Kornet and Queta can eat up minutes in the playoffs when needed either.

Brad Stevens needs to add a PF/C like Day'Ron Sharpe, AND sign back Lonnie Walker. Go ALL-IN.

[scaryjerry]

Really solid win for the thunder. Yay!
They won?t make it through the west playoffs and even if they do we have a tough east ahead of us to make any of this relevant

[Phantom255x]

Really solid win for the thunder. Yay!
They won?t make it through the west playoffs and even if they do we have a tough east ahead of us to make any of this relevant

What? Who is beating OKC in the playoffs this year out West?

Either way it's a tough road for the C's. They may have to beat 2 or maybe even all 3 of NY/CLE/OKC to win it all. Very tough. When the C's are fully healthy and playing with their backs against the wall I'd pick them against anyone. But unlike 2024 where they were motivated and still chasing that title, I wonder if now they have sort of taken the "foot off the gas" a little and aren't as motivated whereas OKC/CLE are playing like their hair is on fire every game lol

[scaryjerry]

Really solid win for the thunder. Yay!
They won?t make it through the west playoffs and even if they do we have a tough east ahead of us to make any of this relevant

What? Who is beating OKC in the playoffs this year out West?

Either way it's a tough road for the C's. They may have to beat 2 or maybe even all 3 of NY/CLE/OKC to win it all. Very tough. When the C's are fully healthy and playing with their backs against the wall I'd pick them against anyone. But unlike 2024 where they were motivated and still chasing that title, I wonder if now they have sort of taken the "foot off the gas" a little and aren't as motivated whereas OKC/CLE are playing like their hair is on fire every game lol

Idk the 5th seeded mavs beat them last season in the playoffs and I could easily see something like that happening again?they?re really good but not quite taking them that serious. It?s irrelevant considering the path we will have to take to even get there.

[Who]

SGA finished with 33pts on 11-23 FGA 8-8 FTA. He was 3-6 on threes. He also had 11reb 6ast 3stl and 2blk. Only 3 turnovers. Filled up the stat sheet and highly efficient scoring.

[Goldstar88]

Really solid win for the thunder. Yay!
They won?t make it through the west playoffs and even if they do we have a tough east ahead of us to make any of this relevant

What? Who is beating OKC in the playoffs this year out West?

Either way it's a tough road for the C's. They may have to beat 2 or maybe even all 3 of NY/CLE/OKC to win it all. Very tough. When the C's are fully healthy and playing with their backs against the wall I'd pick them against anyone. But unlike 2024 where they were motivated and still chasing that title, I wonder if now they have sort of taken the "foot off the gas" a little and aren't as motivated whereas OKC/CLE are playing like their hair is on fire every game lol

If Dallas is healthy, I?d pick them over OKC. Mav?s beat them easily in the postseason last year (4-2). Thunder were also the #1 seed last year and everyone was saying they were going to the Finals. Playoffs are a different animal.

[Who]

Look what we're doing when we're not just chucking threes. We're letting the defense dictate what kind of offense we need to excel. Only 21 attempts and 6 makes thus far. So we don't necessarily have to shoot a ton of threes every time to always win games. Sometimes more threes are needed, and other times they're not.

Also important to note - Tatum's willingness as the team's best player to let others get theirs when it's helping the team is so crucial to this team being as elite as it is. JB has it going, and it's largely because Tatum is drawing the Dort assignment and they're focusing on stopping them and the threes altogether. This allows JB to do what he does best, which is iso score and get himself to the bucket and easy shots. JB has 12 attempts to just 6 attempts for JT, with White having 9, KP 5, and Jrue 4 and his MVP competition in SGA having 12.

Love that team-first mentality from our best player. It may not ever win him a MVP, but he's much more likely to get multiple titles and even a repeat or possible threepeat than any other current star.

I have Tatum 3rd on my MVP list behind SGA & Jokic.

He is playing great this season. Not getting much credit for it though. I don't think he will be in the top 5 come end of season.

Eh, I think he'll still be top 4, especially with Luka no longer to likely be a candidate due to games missed. Who do you think will surpass him?

But I agree about not getting enough credit. It's just really tough for him being on this elite of a team with so much more balance compared to Jokic, SGA, Doncic, and even Giannis who have so much more usage and ability to put up those bigger offensive numbers. Tatum could force things to get more touches and points up, but he generally plays the right way, which leads to better basketball and more wins.

I don't know. I get worried - more so at the start of the season than now - with how many people in media were viewin Jaylen Brown as the real #1 of the Celtics after the Finals last year. I think Jaylen will eat into Tatum's votes this year and Tatum will end up with less votes than expected.

[Vermont Green]

I did not see the game, but 9 for 46 from three?  What is up with that? And why did Pritchard and Hauser play so few minutes?  11 minutes each and neither did much of anything.  All the starters played a lot of minutes in a loss.