OKC Thunder Pull Away Late in Impressive win Over Boston

The time for a heavyweight clash between two of the best teams in the NBA had arrived between the Oklahoma City Thunder and the Boston Celtics, delivering a fun matchup. After a long seesaw competition to the finish line, OKC pulled away to win 118-112.

With the Thunder missing its secondary scoring option in Jalen Williams, someone was bound to step up in his absence. It wasn't only one person who did it, with six other players outside of Oklahoma City's leading scorer finding themselves in the double-digit scoring category.

OKC came out like they were shot out of a cannon, getting onto the scoreboard easily. Wing Lu Dort scored the team's first five points and the Thunder got out to a 9-0 start, taking Boston around three minutes to get going. Once they did, the game was off to the races.

The Celtics looked to exhaust all of their scoring options outside of stars Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown. To start, it was defensive-minded guard Derrick White who got hot. He scored 10 first-quarter points on 3-for-4 shooting, all of which came from the perimeter.

Attempting outside shots must have been the game plan for the Celtics, who attempted 22 in the first quarter alone, making seven. They ended up attempting 63 by the game's end, making 20, which was good for 31.7%. Compared to OKC's 13-for-37, Boston clearly prioritized getting perimeter looks.

The gameplan for Oklahoma City was vastly different. Despite certain size disadvantages on the wings and Boston having the 7-foot-1 Luke Kornet in the interior, a Shai Gilgeous-Alexander-led guard group attacked the basket the whole game. Gilgeous-Alexander's second-year counterpart, Cason Wallace, did the same, attacking Kornet on multiple occasions with Gilgeous-Alexander on the bench.

As the second quarter went on, the double big-man experiment featuring Isaiah Hartenstein and Chet Holmgren started to see some success. Holmgren was getting his shots to fall, finishing with 23 points on 8-for-14 shooting, but the defensive pairing and offensive court spacing of the duo is really what worked the best.

Gilgeous-Alexander scored a quiet 16 points in the first half, with four of them at the free throw line. Tatum did his thing, scoring 18, but Brown was quiet for Boston, scoring only two. Because of this, Oklahoma City led 63-60 at the break.

Gilgeous-Alexander continued to put the ball in the hoop, despite slowly increasing his scoring total. He did it how most stars do, by getting to the free throw line. The defense being played on him by Brown and others forced him to take perimeter shots, pushing out of his mid-range comfort zone, then leading to pursuing free throw attempts. This was until the 7:55 mark in the third quarter, when he turned on an extra gear.

Tatum did the same exact thing for Boston, however. He took the defensive matchup against Holmgren head-on, challenging him at the room and creating space with his stepback jumper. His intent to score and win was clear, despite only being a regular season game.

The ebbs and flows saw both teams' stars struggle at moments but at the end of the day, both ended up shining. Gilgeous-Alexander finished with 34 points on 11-for-20 shooting and Tatum with 33 points on 12-for-23 shooting, both making big shots down the stretch when it mattered.

The back-and-forth nature of the heavyweight battle seeped into the fourth and final quarter, with the score even at 88 a piece entering the final 12 minutes of play. That was how the rest of the game commenced, usually with the Celtics responding to an OKC run.

One thing that stayed consistent all game was Boston's volume of three-point shots. Even when they weren't falling, the Celtics weren't afraid to shoot them, perhaps to their own detriment.

On the other hand, it was a late five-point stretch from Wallace and a classic mid-range jumper from Gilgeous-Alexander that sealed the deal for Oklahoma City. The Thunder pulled away in a late sprint to the finish from Boston.

OKC hits the court next against the Detroit Pistons at 6:00 p.m. CST on Saturday, March 15 on the road.

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