Sunday’s loss to the Oklahoma Metropolis Thunder actually was the story of two halves for the Boston Celtics. The primary 24 minutes consisted of a number of the finest basketball we’ve seen from the Cs all yr.
They’d the now 30-5 Thunder in shambles after a highly-competitive begin. The Celtics ballooned their lead as much as 13 at one level and had the hosts speeding their total offense.
As soon as the third quarter began, it was all Oklahoma Metropolis. They outscored the reigning champs 50-27.
“27 in the entire half, huh?,” questioned huge man Kristaps Porzingis when introduced with the stats postgame.
Sure, Kristaps. Solely 27.
Pay attention, OKC put the Celtics in a blender. They upped their physicality to the max and Boston was frazzled.
“As soon as they turned up a bit of bit within the second, we performed silly, and we simply gave some possessions away,” added Porzingis. “And when you begin giving up possessions like this, it was simply downhill for us, and remainder of the time was battling uphill.”
He’s proper. The Thunder despatched a number of defenders on the ball handler, and simply general put extra strain on Boston, which made them crumble. Rapidly, there have been unhealthy passes, rushed drives, and panic in nearly each possession.
“It was quite a few issues,” mentioned head coach Joe Mazzulla. “They’d 17 factors off turnovers within the second half. That’s a product of poor spacing, poor physicality on the ball, and poor screening…These 17 factors off turnovers I believe had been the distinction maker down the stretch.”
Have been the turnovers the distinction maker?
Sure, completely.
Oklahoma Metropolis battled their means again into the sport by getting the Cs to cough up the ball.
That doesn’t imply that the Celtics couldn’t have received this sport. Regardless of the end result being a catastrophe, Boston really performed fairly stable protection. They held one of many high groups within the league to only 105 factors. With the final month of play thought-about, their effort on that facet of the ball was definitely a silver lining.
The issue was that they couldn’t throw the ball within the ocean, capturing simply 20% from the sector within the second half. Once more, the Thunder did an incredible job creating chaos on protection, however there have been nonetheless loads of nice seems to be that didn’t discover the underside of the online.
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It’s at all times going to be fairly troublesome to carry off a group while you solely sink eight photographs in a whole half — by no means thoughts for those who’re enjoying the very best group (record-wise, and possibly talent-wise, too) within the Western Convention.
“Some stuff we pressured a bit,” defined Porzingis. “Didn’t actually give one another sufficient house. Some stuff they legitimately simply performed good protection. And a few we missed… I don’t assume we performed egocentric, however we didn’t play good.”
The sheer distinction in effectivity between halves was outstanding. With the best way that Boston was controlling the sport earlier than the break, there was no motive to really feel that there can be such a shift.
Their freezing chilly capturing mixed with OKC’s dedication to maintain their 14, now 15-game profitable streak alive, wound up being the story of the night time. Positive, there was some irregular dip there. Derrick White was 2-11 from deep, Sam Hauser was 1-5, Jrue Vacation was 0-4, and the record goes on.
Perhaps that’s one thing that will get partially chalked as much as this being Boston’s third sport in 4 days, however that will be unfair to the Thunder. There’s no disputing that they got here out and took this sport proper from the reigning champs.
The Cs can have an opportunity to get their lick again towards OKC on March 12 after they go to TD Backyard. For now, they’ll should set their sights on the always-dangerous Denver Nuggets.
