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The defending champion Boston Celtics matched up in opposition to (arguably) the present title favorites within the Oklahoma Metropolis Thunder for the second time this season on Wednesday evening. Going through down the group with the most effective document in basketball this season, the Celtics performed in a playoff ambiance at residence on the TD Backyard. However after three quarters of a number of the most entertaining basketball we’ve seen this season, the Celtics faltered late, and the Thunder scored a 118-112 win.
Jayson Tatum had a robust evening with 33 factors, eight rebounds and eight assists, whereas Derrick White and Al Horford mixed for 40 factors and 12 made threes, carrying the group within the first half with blistering capturing from deep. Jaylen Brown, nevertheless, struggled. He scored simply 10 factors on 5-of-15 capturing for the evening and picked up his sixth foul of the evening late within the fourth quarter with the Celtics jockeying for the lead in an in depth sport.
The Thunder opted to play small tonight absent Jalen Williams (hip) and Alex Caruso (sickness). In lieu of a double huge lineup with Holmgren and Hartenstein, they tabbed reserve guards Aaron Wiggins and Cason Wallace to take the open spots within the beginning 5. Although the small-ball look didn’t stifle the Celtics’ capturing the way in which that they had hoped, they loved nice success behind the duo of Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (34 factors, 7 assists) and Chet Holmgren (23 factors, 15 rebounds). In all, seven Thunder gamers recorded double-digit scoring totals.
Oklahoma Metropolis opened up the sport on a fast 9-0, benefiting from a Boston offense that missed its first 5 pictures from the sector. The fast begin was barely sufficient to match two-fifths of the Boston beginning lineup, nevertheless. Horford and White responded to the early run with a flurry of threes, connecting on three apiece and scoring the Celtics’ first 19 factors between them. No different Celtic recorded a degree till Tatum’s three with slightly below 4 minutes to play within the first, however Boston didn’t want rather more — they trailed the Thunder 33-30 after a frenetic first quarter.
The Thunder continued to attain because the second quarter commenced, however the tide of Celtics’ three-pointers was relentless and punishing. Within the first half, a whopping 36 of their 48 shot makes an attempt got here from behind the arc, and the intense strategy was extremely productive — they related on 15 (42%). White and Horford continued to prepare dinner, however it was Tatum’s emergence that allowed the Celtics to hold tight with Oklahoma Metropolis. He scored 18 factors within the first half, and after the groups matched one another with 30 factors apiece within the second quarter, the Celtics hit the halftime break trailing by three, 63-60.
The second half started tilted in Oklahoma Metropolis’s favor, because the Thunder managed to work their method forward by as many as 12 factors. Gilgeous-Alexander and Holmgren continued to surge in what was an enormous evening for every (57 factors mixed). However the Celtics continued to hold robust, and a three-pointer from Horford reduce the Thunder lead again all the way down to seven factors with simply over 5 minutes to play within the third quarter. The latter half of the quarter tilted in Boston’s favor, and after Tatum transformed on an and-one layup, they headed to the ultimate body tied with the Thunder, 88 factors apiece.
The fourth quarter started in a stalemate. Early inroads by the Thunder had been shortly rebuffed, with White swatting a shot try by Holmgren and flattening a nook three on the opposite finish — his sixth — to maintain the sport tied at 95-all with underneath 9 minutes remaining in regulation.
The following jiffy favored the Thunder, who inched their method forward by as many as six factors because the quarter wore on. Boston’s offense stagnated for a brief stretch, however a easy midrange jumper from Tatum and an assertive dunk from Brown put them again inside 4 factors. After Brown’s dunk, although, got here a pricey mistake — his sixth foul of the sport, a capturing foul on Holmgren. Brown departed and Holmgren transformed each free throws, placing the Celtics behind by six with 3:36 to play.
The sequence appeared to hold the Thunder throughout the end line. Oklahoma Metropolis emerged on a 15-4 run late within the quarter, out of the blue discovering themselves forward by 10 factors with a minute left to play. Within the blink of a watch, the Celtics had been pressured into enjoying the intentional foul sport, and although they briefly pulled inside 4 factors of the lead within the closing seconds, they finally weren’t notably near finishing the comeback.
Subsequent up, the Celtics kick off a stretch of eight street video games of their subsequent 9 matchups with a go to to Miami, dealing with off with the Warmth at 7 PM EST on NBA TV.
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