In his postgame press conference, Jaylen Brown emphasized one key point: physicality. He used the words “physical” or “physicality” 22 times and credited Oklahoma City on three separate occasions.
“Give credit to OKC. They’ve been playing good basketball,” he said. “They were physical tonight. They’ve been physical all season long and outplayed us tonight.”
After their 118-112 loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder, there was a clear sense of accountability from the Celtics. Despite two players—Derrick White (for the first time in his career) and Brown—fouling out, and a significant 23-shot disparity at the free-throw line (35 attempts for Oklahoma City compared to just 12 for Boston), the Celtics weren’t offering excuses.
“It was just one of those games. I’m not even gonna blame officiating or anything like that. It was just one of those games where I couldn’t get anything going offensively or defensively,” said Brown, who finished with a measly 10 points on 5-of-15 shooting (0-of-5 three-point) shooting. “There were maybe some tough calls that could’ve gone the other way, but definitely, OKC was the tougher team for a large stretch.”
In fairness, getting to the free-throw line is tough when most of your shots are coming from beyond the arc. The Celtics attempted a franchise-record 63 three-pointers, the third-most in NBA history. While the three-ball kept them in it early, shooting 15-of-36 (41.7%) in the first half, it quickly collapsed in the second, with the team going 5-of-27 (18.5%). After the game, they insisted they were getting good looks.
“I thought we got amazing looks,” Mazzulla said. “I mean, that’s just the shell of their defense. They protect the paint first. They fight. They try to get out. I thought our two-on-one reads were really good. I thought we generated relatively great looks throughout most of the game.”
You can point to the free-throw disparity, the cold second-half shooting, or the lack of support around Jayson Tatum (33 points, eight rebounds, eight assists), Al Horford (18 points, 10 rebounds, six assists, two blocks, and a steal), and Derrick White (22 points, eight rebounds, five assists, three blocks, and two steals), as Brown, Jrue Holiday, Payton Pritchard, and Sam Hauser combined to shoot 13-of-39 (33.3%) from the field and 4-of-25 (16%) from deep. But ultimately, this game was defined by Oklahoma City’s physicality, setting the tone from the start and outmuscling the Celtics throughout.
"I give credit to OKC. The tougher team sets the rules," Brown said. "They had a good level of physicality tonight, and I could be more physical. I could've used my body more. I settled in some spots. Just, I didn't meet the level of physicality tonight. I had no free-throw attempts, which is unusual."
Oklahoma City set those rules with their consistent physical play from start to finish—as they have all season. The refs swallowed their whistles and let them play, giving the Thunder the edge they needed in the margins, particularly at the free-throw line and on the glass, allowing them to control the game from the opening tip.
“That’s what you want. You want a physical game,” said Tatum. “That’s how it’s going to be in the playoffs. You want to match that intensity.”
While you can’t control whether your shots fall, physicality is something you can dictate. As the Celtics turn their attention to the playoffs, they’ll need to establish that edge every night and sharpen their attention to detail if they hope to achieve their ultimate goal.
“You have to match the level of physicality,” said Mazzulla. “You have to do that. But, we fouled a three-point shooter at the end of the quarter – We jump on a pump fake, don’t show our hands on a tendency drive – just there’s a level of physicality that you have to play with. You also have to do your best to defend without fouling. So it’s just a small balance there, but definitely ones that we can take away. All of those things get magnified when you have two good teams playing against each other, and they took advantage of those things.”
Oklahoma City deserves every bit of the credit they received from the Celtics after the game. Despite missing two key players—Alex Caruso and Jalen Williams—they didn’t miss a beat. They played their trademark hard-nosed, connected brand of basketball, giving relentless effort for all 48 minutes. They’ve earned the respect that will surely be discussed on talk shows around the country in the coming days as pundits weigh the potential of an NBA Finals matchup between Boston and OKC.
However, there’s still a long road ahead before June 5, and both teams will need things to break their way to get there. In the short term, this serves as a lesson for Boston: these are the types of games they’ll face in the coming weeks. They’ll need to elevate their physicality, aggressiveness, and discipline—and sustain it for all 48 minutes—if they want to make it to where they want to be.
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