The Celtics Fucked Around And Found Out The Hard Way That The Oklahoma City Thunder Are Very Real

Joshua Gateley. Getty Images.

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And just like that, the Celts 6 game winning streak has ended. It's tied for the longest streak they've had this season (also have two separate 5 game streaks), and I think it's fair to say there's certainly no shame in dropping a game on the road against a 23-9 Thunder team who has now won 5 in a row after wins against MIN/DEN/BOS all within the last week. They're as for real a team as you're going to find in the entire league, which is why games like this sort of put my brain in a pretzel. On one hand, it was a wildly entertaining game. We were blessed with some high level basketball for 2.5 hours where it felt like a heavy-weight fight. Both sides throwing and connecting on haymakers, both looking dominant at times, a massive comeback attempt, it was about as entertaining game as you'll find in the regular season.

So while I loved the fight I saw from the Celts, the way they lost was also pretty damn annoying. This would probably be classified by many as a "moral victory" or whatever, and on some level, I buy that. It's not like they were blown out or got killed on the road by a bad team. The Celts despite their issues were right there. I dunno if I'll ever be "OK" with a Celtics loss because I have mental issues, but if you feel that way this morning I can certainly understand why. We know the Celts are not going to go undefeated the rest of the season, and if they were to lose a game last night is probably how I would prefer they did it. I think it's OK to give OKC their flowers and credit them for how they played and mostly just leave things there. When they had to make the plays to pull out the win, they executed. Simple as that.

When we all saw the OKC/UTA/IND/IND/MIN/MIL stretch over the next 8 days, we knew it was going to be tough. Even the "easy" game vs UTA is against a team that has currently won 7 of 10. While it would have been nice to start that stretch off with an impressive road win in OKC, there are certainly no guarantees in this league. Especially when you have a target on your back the way the Celts do. They get team's best shot every night (which I like), and sometimes things just ultimately don't work out. A play here or there makes all the difference in the world in a game like this, and unfortunately, the Celts came up a play or two short.

Is it the end of the world? Heavens no. Is it still kind of annoying because this was a winnable game? To me it is. I think both can be true. Take it on the chin, lick your wounds, and turn the page.  

With that said, let's begin

The Good

- There are really only two guys who had a case for the top spot, and for me, I tend to lead with Jayson Tatum. Why? Pretty simple, Tatum was awesome in this game. I would argue it was perhaps one of his best two way/all around performances of the season, even coming in a loss. 

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For me, Tatum's job last night was simple. As the best player, he had to go blow for blow with SGA. Whatever SGA did, Tatum had to match it. Whether it was the total production, the facilitating, the efficiency, the defense, this was one of those marquee games where the star has to match the star on the other end, and that's exactly what Tatum did. Things weren't perfect (7 misses in the paint), but 30/13/8 on 10-21 (2-5) with some incredible defense on SGA in the 4th quarter (he didn't score) is the exact type of best player performance we expect from Tatum. Of all the factors that contributed to this loss, the play of Jayson Tatum outside of his weird paint numbers certainly wasn't an issue. 

In fact, the way he held SGA to just 3 points on 14 possessions and 1-4 shooting is a huge reason why the Celts were even able to climb back into this game late. 

Once he finally started to actually shoot the ball in the 2nd quarter is when the Celts first started to retake the momentum of this game, especially how Tatum closed the half. I'm all for balance and playing the hot hand (which was KP early), but at the same time I also enjoy Tatum remembering he's one of the best players in the entire league and acting accordingly. He's a guy that will always choose to make the right play over looking for his own, but I do think there are times when everyone needs to remember they have Jayson Tatum on their team and that's a guy that should be getting around 4-6 shots a quarter at a minimum. Especially when he seems to be able to get whatever he wanted offensively. 

In looking at Tatum's shot chart, I see an approach most people beg Tatum to have. Only 5 3PA of his 21 FGA, he got to the line 10 times

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And once things got to the 4th quarter and things were tight, 5 of Tatum's 6 FGA were in the paint/at the rim (3-5). Outside of cleaning up some sloppy TOs, a Tatum performance like this is going to lead to wins the majority of the time. He certainly held up his part and gave the Celts enough to win. There was no no-show, no maddening shot selection, no lack of aggression. 

The same way Jaylen Brown turned his season around after his stinker against CHA, Tatum is currently doing the same thing after his stinker against GS. This looks a whole lot more like the Tatum we know and love

Since that GS loss, 28.2/7.6/5.8/1.4 on 46/35% with 3.0 3PM and just 2.6 TOs a game. Honestly, I think it's fair to suggest that Tatum has actually been playing better this season than he's getting credit for. Knowing everyone was going to have to sacrifice shots, Tatum's FGA average is down from 21.1 to 19.6, and he's still giving you pretty much the same production as last season, when he was as 1st Team All NBA player

Sure he might not be getting the same type of MVP hype or love that we saw last season, but who gives a shit. The three point shooting is starting to come around, this is the most efficient Tatum has been since his rookie year, and the rebounding/passing is still elite for his position. 

- Then there's Kristaps Porzingis. Stop me if you've heard this before, but KP was dominant

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I know it's a cop out, but I can't really think of too many complaints about Porzingis' season. Maybe the 33% shooting from deep? The thing is, he's been so incredible in essentially every other aspect of the game that I don't even really care. 

What I care about is what we continue to see when it comes to KP and this team going up against tough as nails defenses who have length and can switch. That's why Brad traded for him because those are the defenses that have ended the Celtics season and it was very apparent that the Celts needed a counter outside of the Jays isolation. Enter Porzingis.

So even though it came in a loss, this is why I find it somewhat encouraging. I would argue things could have been even better had KP not smoked a couple of bunnies from up close, but what we saw was how the Celts are going to be able to counter these types of aggressive defenses. It's not just the scoring around the rim/in the post/at the nail, it's also his ability to get to the line. Think back to previous seasons, how many times did we see a Celtics big be that productive offensively while also getting to the line 9 times?

This was the 6th time this season (24 games) that KP has finished with at least 9 FTA. His .443 FTA rate is the 2nd highest of his entire career, and easily the highest the Celtics have had during the entire Tatum/Brown era. Then you add in everything he gives you defensively and this was another monster performance against a good team in a huge game. Every time I watch KP play all I think to myself is how desperately I want him healthy for a playoff run. He's the needle mover. When he plays like this, against one of the best defenses in the NBA, it's very hard to not let your brain go to dangerous places. 

- Defensively, a bit of a disaster for DWhite. Everything else? Pretty damn good

A little bit of everything on an efficient 7-12 (5-9), it's no surprise White was a starter best +5 in his minutes. It also wasn't a surprise that once he came back from getting stitches in the 2nd quarter the Celts immediately went on a 9-1 run and took back the lead. We're used to Tatum being the guy that has the craziest on/off splits, but so far that guy is easily Derrick White

w/ White on: 122.9 Ortg / 108.2 Drtg / +14.7 net

w/ White off: 115.9 Ortg / 112.6 Drtg / +2.4 net

That +12.3 net rating difference is BY FAR the highest of any regular rotation player. To put it into perspective, the KP difference is +4.5 , the Tatum difference is +2.5, and the Jaylen difference is +1.7. Here's a fun fact about this too. Did you know White led the Celtics in this last year as well? It's true, he was a +9.7 difference, which was nearly double the next closes guy (Rob/Tatum. +5.6).

I am also doubling down on my theory that Derrick White possesses the clutch gene. I dunno how many more times we need to see shit like this

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before we just accept that maybe it's time for Derrick to be the guy to take all the high pressured end of game shots. Why not? All he does is seem to make big shots (especially catch & shoot 3s) late in games. 

So far this season, White is shooting 57.9/53.3% in the clutch (15 games), and he has the highest clutch time +/- on the team (+2.9). It's abundantly clear that through this point in the season, White has been their best clutch time offensive player. Despite that production, he's currently 4th in clutch time FGA with Tatum leading (30/30%), followed by KP (64/28%), then Jaylen (50/25%). I'm here to say the time has come to let Derrick cook late in a close game. Look for him, get him shots, chances are he's going to make it.

- I'm not really sure it's a "revenge" game for Al since the Thunder did him a solid, but I did enjoy him turning back the clock in his 19 minutes off the bench. I'll take 7/2/3 with 5 blocks on 3-5 (1-3), and while the double big lineup was awful, the individual play from Horford was fine. 

- Things turned with the intensity of Payton Pritchard in that 4th quarter, and I continue to be impressed with what he's done as a floor general so far this season. Another 4 AST and 0 TOs (+9), Pritchard has really taken that next step in terms of being an offensive initiator while maintaining great ball security. The guy has a 19.3% AST% paired with just a 7.5 TOV%, and to put in perspective how rare this mix is 

I liked how Joe rewarded Payton with the minutes down the stretch since it was his energy that gave them the spark, and at this point, I don't think anyone even remembers his slow start to the season. For his role, I feel like Pritchard has given the Celts exactly what they need. 

The Bad

- How rare was last night's result? Well, it was the first time all season the Celtics lost a game in which they shot at least 33% from deep (37.5%). They're now 23-1 when they do that, so that stings. 

Last night was also the first time this season the Celts lost a game in which they finished with at least 30 assists (33). They are now 6-1 when that happens.

Last night was just the 2nd time all season the Celts lost a game in which they scored 120 points (127). They are now 15-2 when that happens.

This is just one of the many reasons why I wouldn't get overly worked up about last night. We saw the Celts do things that the overwhelming majority of the time led to wins. Just goes to show how important defense is. 

- In addition to all that, last night was just the 2nd time this season Josh Giddey has made 4 3PM and just the 3rd time this season SGA made 3 3PM. Credit those guys for making shots, but that isn't exactly a normal occurrence. The Celts challenged Giddey to beat them from deep, and he responded. SGA's were mostly contested stepback threes. Sometimes you just have to live with it and tip our cap.

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- In looking at how all the main lineups did in this game, there are a few concerning results

The defense from that starting group…WOOF. I mean the starters got cooked in their minutes unlike anything we've seen all season. The main culprit? Unfortunately, the backcourt

The size and patience of SGA was a big time problem. You mix that in with his insane quickness/first step, and SGA was pretty much getting whatever the hell he wanted until the Celts switched a bigger wing on him. Tatum was great in the 4th, Jaylen held him to just 2 points on 16 possessions, but it goes without saying that as a unit, the starters did not defend anywhere close to an acceptable level. A 173.9 Drtg??? Gross.

Then there was the Al/Kornet double big lineups. It didn't matter which Jay was with that group, they were awful on both ends of the floor. A 50 Ortg with either Jay, horrific defense with either group, this was probably Joe's most glaring error in terms of his rotations. I get why he did it, OKC struggles with rebounding, but the lineups just weren't working, and it was the double big with Al/Kornet that dug the hole early in the 4th. You'll notice that Pritchard and one big lineup looked great, and that's the lineup that brought them back.

Not going Queta or even going small and having Tatum at the 5 and bringing in Brissett proved costly, and I will bet everything when these two teams play again we won't see something like this. For whatever reason, Kornet works best as a solo big. You can play Al/KP together, but when it's Kornet minutes the Celts are probably better served going small and just gang rebounding. 

- Heading into this game the one thing you knew the Celts couldn't do was turn the ball over. OKC leads the NBA in points off turnovers, so what did the Celtics do? They naturally turned the ball over 14 times, leading to 16 OKC points. That feels pretty important in a 4 point loss. 

In the 4th quarter, what did we see? 4 more turnovers. The Thunder are too good to be that careless, especially in the 4th quarter.

- If this loss felt somewhat familiar, it's partly because the Celts lost in a way that was almost identical to their last loss (GS). All ou have to do is look how they did at the rim/in the paint

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An insane amount of smoked bunnies, just like the GS loss where they missed 20 shots in the paint. You don't often hear about this when the Celts struggle because some out there are more focused on crying about the 3P volume, but I would argue the paint production was actually a bigger factor in each of the last two losses. Just very uncharacteristic production for a team that is among the best in the league at finishing from these zones. Jrue's were especially brutal because they are all mostly uncontested layups. He's shooting just 65.5% at the rim this season, which seems crazy for someone with his talent level. For reference, last year he was at 72.5%.

The Ugly

- Between how he got cooked defensively and then his tough night offensively, unfortunately we have to put Jrue's performance in this section. It's no big deal, off nights happen to everyone, and this was the first true stinker Jrue has had in a very long time. We just can't have a disaster class on both ends of the floor. Pick one. If you're going to struggle defensively, I need the offense to make up for it. If your shot is going to struggle, I need you putting opposing guards in jail. That didn't happen, and it proved costly.

- But in terms of costly individual performances, none were bigger than what we got from Jaylen. To put it simply, 4-18 (0-8) is nowhere close to good enough. Sure he made an impact in other ways with his 6 boards and 3 assists, but this was the very definition of a stinker that you can't really afford your second best player to have. Part of it was just missing open looks, but other parts were a little more concerning.

When it comes to things Jaylen struggles with, high pressure defense with length is one of them. It gives him CTE. So when I see decisions/turnovers like this

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I mean, that was the ECF almost to a T. The postup strip against SGA we saw Butler do, and frankly I don't really love posting Jaylen against long, savvy defenders like that. The strip in transition against the length of JWilliams crossing into his left hand was familiar, as was the dribbling off his feet attacking Chet's length. 

The 4-18 is whatever really. Guys have off shooting nights. We've seen those exact splits from everyone on the roster this season. The concerning part is how he looked against length/good defensive pressure. There wasn't so much driving recklessly into traffic as it was being loose with the basketball, both of which aren't great. 

His first true stinker since the CHA loss in late November, Jaylen certainly picked a brutal time for it. It just goes to show how thin the margin for error can be on the road against an elite team. Your best players can't no show offensively, and the Celts got it from 40% of their starting five. 

- You're simply not going to win giving up 127 points in regulation on the road. Can't have it. As awesome as the Celts may have been offensively, we were reminded of a tale as old as time. If you don't defend, you die

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Given that things don't get any easier in the immediate future, it's crucial that the Celts don't let things snowball. They've been pretty good at responding after losses all season, and I think the way they ended this game should give you a decent amount of confidence that they'll respond just fine. File this game away for not only the next time these two play, but also for teams who have a similar type of defensive approach that the Celts may face in a playoff series. 

With that said, we're on to Utah.