A 5-2 finish is a 58.5 win pace, which is essentially what the 2024-25 Celtics are on.
So in the end, it’s a bit of a mixed bag.
As a Celtics fan, it leaves you in a bit of a weird place.
To me, that’s probably my biggest take away.
Even still you’ll hear some try and discredit OKC/CLE, and I just don’t get it.
It’s OK to admit there are really good teams out there!
That’s just the truth.
There’s a reason the Thunder are having one of the greatest regular seasons in NBA history.
They hit every one of those criteria, and the results on the court speak for themselves.
With that said, let’s begin.
Shoutout Dick Lipe for that one.
On a night where you need your best player to be at his best, Tatum delivered.
He more than did his part.
Not just in terms of the production, but also the efficiency.
I’ll take 52% shooting on high volume against a historic defense every day of the week.
Against OKC for the season, Tatum is averaging 29.5/9.0/4.5 on 47.5/31% splits.
As I said, he’s scheme-proof.
You’ll never believe this, but the Celts lost this game by 6.
There were a lot of issues with how this game unfolded, but none of them really involved Tatum.
- Few things in life annoy me more than wasting awesome Al Horford performances.
It should never, ever, be what keeps you alive while on life support.
That is not fair to him, he’s a billion years old.
To let him down like this should bring shame upon everyone (outside of Tatum and DWhite).
- Which is our final player who gets a pass in this game, and that’s Derrick White.
Another player who you couldn’t possibly have too many complaints about.
So that’s really it.
Tatum, Al, and DWhite were pretty much the only positive takeaways from this game.
Against most teams in the NBA, their performances are enough to carry you to a win.
Against a historic regular season team that matches up well with you?
It’s not enough.
The others cannot no show like they did in this loss.
The Bad
- Where do we begin?
Without it, they get blown out.
The Celts just happened to shoot 5-21 on those clean looks (23%).
Theydidadjust and have more of an inside approach in the second half.
Not only that, but you also have to acknowledge how OKC played defense.
They packed their asses in the paint and lived with the results.
Driving and generating open 3s is good process.
So if you find yourself complaining about 3pt volume, I’m not sure what to tell you.
Pay attention I guess?
Missing good looks does not mean you played with poor offensive process.
It means you had poor execution.
I don’t know how else to say it.
They did not lose because of 3pt volume.
This team has a GLARING 4th quarter problem.
I’m not sure how anyone could debate it if we’re being honest.
Even in their wins, it’s a problem.
But in the losses?
In their 18 losses, the Celtics currently own the 25th ranked offense with a rating of just 105.1.
They own the 29th ranked defense, with a rating of 129.4.
Their -24.4 net rating in the 4th quarter is 30th in the NBA.
Their TS% of 51.2% is 27th in the NBA.
Those include losses at home and on the road.
In just the 4th quarter in losses at home?
At home, one the road, it never seems to matter.
When it comes time to execute and put teams away, the Celts have struggled all season.
So what did we get last night?
Best players, role players, they all struggled.
Last night things started with the non-Tatum lineups unable to defend without fouling.
That obviously becomes an issue once SGA returns and things get ticky tacky.
That’s how you allow 18 FTA in a single quarter.
Not matching physicality and not defending without fouling is how you dig your own grave.
It’s not a case of the non-Tatum lineup’s offense being bad.
It has a 124 ORTG on the season.
The issue is more changing the calibration of when those lineups happen.
Against elite teams, that’s how you lose.
In those first 2 minutes without Tatum on the floor, the Celts went 1-4.
Jaylen missed a couple 3s, Payton missed a 3PA and Luke had a putback dunk.
Meanwhile, the Thunder only made 1 FGM and yet pushed the lead to 5.
Derrick made a big 3, Isaiah Joe answered the next possession.
Al made a big 3, Kenrich Williams answered the next possession.
Every single time the Celts attempted to gain control, OKC had an answer.
The once some shots rimmed out and the Thunder still found ways to execute, that was the game.
Again, it was 95-95 with 8:51 left.
Thunder closed 23-17 and shot 46/42.9%.
- We all saw the inconsistent whistle.
No need to harp on it.
It is what it is.
In fact, they got the opposite whistle.
Annoying, but that’s how it goes sometimes.
- In a game like this, the “others” need to step up and fill their role.
They got nothing from Jrue/Hauser/Pritchard, with the trio going a combined 8-24 (4-20).
They all had good looks, but you have to convert on those looks.
We just saw something similar in the Cavs loss, and there is a recurring theme.
If it’s not the worst, it’s certainly up there.
There’s no showing offensively, but still making an impact defensively, as a rebounder, and playmaker.
Sometimes you just don’t make shots.
It happens, but you’ve got the option to find a way to make a winning impact.
That is NOT what we got from Jaylen in this loss.
Not only was the production not there, his minutes were detrimental.
It was more of a minus-factor if that makes sense.
Did I just make that up?
But it’s accurate.
He played losing basketball last night, no two ways about it.
But the best players on the team are held to a higher standard.
If Pritchard or Hauser or Jrue suck, that’s annoying but they are also role players.
Jaylen, has a much more important role on this team.
When Tatum is doing his part and carrying his load, it is non-negotiable that Jaylen do the same.
He only finished with 5 rebounds in 37 minutes, and he didn’t take a single FTA.
This performance would be unacceptable even if he made $10M a year.
Bad basketball is bad basketball, regardless of your contract.
Both things should be possible.
