The Boston Celtics hosted the Oklahoma City Thunder at TD Garden Sunday expecting a fight, and that’s exactly what they got.
The game would come down to the final play after numerous lead changes throughout the contest, wth Boston even looking poised to head towards a blowout in the second quarter.
The game was close early until a Hamidou Diallo trey put OKC up 25-20 with just over three minutes to go in the frame. The Thunder would hold the lead until a 3-pointer by point guard Kemba Walker gave the Celtics a three-point lead.
Boston would build as much as an 18-point head of steam by the final minute of the first half as forwards Jayson Tatum and Gordon Hayward started to heat up, but Oklahoma City would cut the lead to 63-52 going into the break.
Brad Stevens: “The end of the second quarter was bad. … this is part of navigating your way through this stuff.” Said the Cs just haven’t sustained their level of play like they have before and like they know they can. Said most of his good teams go through stretches like this.
— Jay King (@ByJayKing) March 9, 2020
The Thunder would come out hot in the second half, cutting the lead ot just six at the 11-minute mark of the penultimate frame. Boston would continue squandering their once-commanding lead throughout the third before Schroder would take back the lead for OKC with just under 11 minutes left in the game.
The Celtics and Thunder would trade baskets for the remainder of the game, with Boston looking poised to squeak by Oklahoma City with less than a minute to play. But Schroder would strike again, stealing the ball from Walker with just seconds left, and delivering the coup de grace immediately after.
The Celtics would regroup and feed Tatum for the final shot, but the Duke product didn’t connect, and Boston fell to the Thunder at home 105-104.
Guard Chris Paul led the Thunder with 28 points, 6 rebounds and 7 assists, and Schroder added a massive 27 points on 10-of-21 shooting with 6 assists off the bench.
Brad Stevens: “This is the part of the NBA that is hard … You can feel on top of the world one week, sky is falling the next.”
— Chris Forsberg (@ChrisForsberg_) March 9, 2020
Forward Danilo Gallinari contributed 18 points and 6 rebounds as well for OKC.
Boston was lead by Hayward’s 24 points on 9-of-19 shooting (including 4-of-7 from deep), and Marcus Smart’s 19 points and 10 boards. Tatum added 19 points as well along with 5 rebounds in what amounts to a slump compared to his sizzling stat lines of February.
The Celtics continued to struggle with their accuracy yet again, their 41.3 % shooting overall a significant factor in the loss.
The Boston Celtics next face the Indiana Pacers on Tuesday March 10th at 7pm ET in Indianapolis.
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