One of the Celtics’ defining traits this season has been their consistency.
No matter the opponent or who is available, the Celtics have made a habit of competing, putting themselves in a position to win almost every night.
That resilience was on full display Thursday night.
Playing without Jayson Tatum (Achilles injury management), Derrick White (knee contusion), and Nikola Vucevic (ring finger fracture), Boston pushed the reigning champion Oklahoma City Thunder to the brink in a game that featured 19 lead changes and 14 ties.
Oklahoma City broke the final tie with under one second remaining after Chet Holmgren was fouled while grabbing an offensive rebound off a missed Alex Caruso three-pointer, sinking the consequential free throws with 0.8 seconds left.
“I thought it was a great game,” Jaylen Brown said. “One possession game. I felt like we did a lot of great things. We came out, we competed, and just came up a little short in the end. I hate to see the game decided like that, but we’ve got to find a way to rebound on that last possession.”
Featuring the last two NBA champions — and the current favorites to meet again in June — the showdown lived up to the hype.
Here are four takeaways as the Celtics finish their three-game road trip (Cleveland, San Antonio, Oklahoma City) 1-2.
The MVP candidates did not disappoint
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Jaylen Brown are both firmly in the MVP conversation. And facing off head-to-head, they did not disappoint.
Gilgeous-Alexander finished with 35 points (13-of-18 FG, 7-of-8 FT), nine assists, six rebounds, two steals, and three blocks in 39 minutes. With a midrange jumper over Baylor Scheierman early in the third quarter, the reigning MVP passed Wilt Chamberlain for the longest streak of consecutive 20-point games with 127.
Brown finished with 34 points (10-of-25 FG, 13-of-14 FT), seven assists, six rebounds, two steals, and a block. The 29-year-old, who is averaging a career-high 5.2 assists per game, has now recorded seven or more assists in each of his last seven games, and in nine of the 10 games since the All-Star break. Brown’s seven straight games with at least seven assists is the longest such streak by a Celtic since Rajon Rondo in 2014.
“He was phenomenal,” Payton Pritchard said of Brown. “That’s the best way to put it. He was hitting clutch shots, getting to the rim, made big defensive plays at times. He did an unbelievable job.”
Both stars played at an elite level on both ends of the floor, defending with effort and tenacity while getting to their spots and creating for others offensively. The back-and-forth between two future First Team All-NBA talents was nothing short of spectacular.
Boston went cold in the fourth quarter
The Celtics scored just 19 points in the fourth quarter.
They shot 4-of-18 (22.2%) from the field, missed all seven three-point attempts, and turned the ball over four times.
Jaylen Brown and Payton Pritchard were the only Celtics to make a basket in the frame, each hitting two.
People are going to point to Holmgren’s offensive rebound as the play that ended the game, but the truth is, if Boston had gotten any kind of shot-making in the fourth, they wouldn’t have been in that position. Even holding the Thunder to just 24 points in the quarter wasn’t enough.
You have to be nearly perfect to beat OKC, and the Celtics’ mistakes and empty possessions down the stretch were what cost them.
The Stay Ready Group was, once again, ready
Down three rotation players, this was a big spot for some of the younger guys seeing increased minutes this season: Baylor Scheierman, Hugo Gonzalez, Jordan Walsh, and Ron Harper Jr.
Every time they’ve been thrown into a game and asked to contribute, they’ve answered the call. Thursday night against the reigning champions was no different.
Scheierman finished with 11 points, seven rebounds (three offensive), and five assists in 33 minutes. Gonzalez added 11 points, five rebounds, two steals, an assist, and a block in 27 minutes. Walsh had eight points and three rebounds, registering a +12 in 12 minutes, while Harper Jr. posted a game-high +15 in 12 minutes.
They were ready for the moment, all making a positive impact on the game, especially on the defensive end and on the margins.
“We just got some young wolves, man,” Jaylen Brown said. “We play inspired basketball. We come out every night, and we compete, regardless of who’s on the floor. We’re not afraid of anybody. We play together and play as a team, and I’m proud of my group. I’m proud of our approach to every game. We came out and on the road, and we put the name to the test.”
The steady, collective growth across the roster has been the Celtics’ biggest development this season. These young players have earned Joe Mazzulla’s trust and can be counted on whenever their number is called, no matter the stage.
“They come easily to play and play winning basketball,” said Payton Pritchard. “It’s nothing new. We’re, like, almost through the season now. It’s just what they do.”
Moral victory road trip?
This was a challenging road trip for the Celtics. Cleveland (40-26) and San Antonio (48-18) have been two of the hottest teams in basketball over the past few weeks, and the Thunder (52-15) have the best record in the league.
The Celtics have already shown they can compete in a wide-open Eastern Conference, especially with Jayson Tatum back in the lineup. That was on full display in Sunday’s win over Cleveland.
The bigger question was whether they could hang with the upper echelon of the Western Conference and establish themselves as legitimate NBA Finals contenders. While they went 0-2 against Western Conference teams on this trip, they still head back to Boston proving they can.
Context is important. Against San Antonio, Jaylen Brown was ejected in the second quarter, Tatum is still on a minutes restriction, and two other rotation players (Payton Pritchard and Nikola Vucevic) were unavailable. Still, Boston stayed close until the final minutes, when those factors ultimately made the difference against a team of that caliber.
Against Oklahoma City, they were without Tatum, White, and Vucevic, and still hung around until the quite literally the final second.
Moral victories are always tricky, and sometimes sound like excuse-making. But watching these games, it’s clear that even shorthanded, the Celtics can hang with the league’s upper class, which is a great sign with the playoffs just five weeks away.
Though they return to Boston losers of two in a row and three of their last five, there was plenty to like from the trip. Now, they get 10 of their final 16 games at home, a chance to build momentum heading into the postseason.
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