On Sunday, the Thunder pulled off what appeared to be an improbable task, as they pulled out a 105-104 victory against the Celtics at TD Garden. Playing the three games in five nights was tough enough, but the final game of the trip was against the toughest team, and that’s often a recipe for disaster.
It nearly was in this instance, too.
Thanks to a last-second steal by Dennis Schroder (27 points), the Thunder managed to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat, as the young guard scored the go-ahead basket with 8.5 seconds remaining in the contest.
Although it helped the Thunder pull ahead, Boston still had a lot of time left for a game-winning field goal attempt. At that point, though, Chris Paul opted to take matters into his own hands.
Despite giving up appreciable height to Jayson Tatum, Paul drew the defensive assignment on the young All-Star and helped to force him into a miss. The Thunder ultimately prevailed.
After the contest, in his meeting with reporters, The Athletic’s Erik Horne got Paul on camera revealing that he specifically requested the assignment on Tatum on the game’s fateful possession.
“I told coach in the huddle I wanted to guard Jayson ‘cus I had a feeling that they’d go to him but, I mean, I work out with JT in the summer, we play hoop. I mean, if you ask him, he probably got the shot he wanted, but I just wanted to make it tough on him.”
That he did, and was obvious. Paul has never been one to back down from a challenge, and his taking on the tough assignment (and succeeding) is a microcosm of the leadership that he’s provided the overachieving Thunder all season long.
“I love defense and I love that challenge, you know what I mean? So if he was gonna win it, it was gonna be on me… At this point in my career, I rather guard a guy in the post than on the perimeter.”
Chris Paul said he asked to defend Jayson Tatum on the final possession. Then Tatum went into the post.
“At this point in my career, I’d rather guard in the post than on the perimeter. Take me to the post and I’m happy.” pic.twitter.com/bPKzQpwRur
— Erik Horne (@ErikHorneOK) March 9, 2020
The Celtics are one of the best teams in the Eastern Conference but have struggled since the All-Star break concluded. The loss to the Thunder drops them to 4-5 since the break, compared to their going 10-2 in their final 12 games leading into the midseason classic.
With the three-game sweep in tow, the Thunder return to Oklahoma City where they’ll play host to the Utah Jazz on Wednesday night.