6 takeaways from the Boston Celtics 111-105 win vs. the Oklahoma City Thunder
TheOklahoman.com
The Boston Celtics won their second game in a row last night, taking down the Oklahoma City Thunder 111-105. It was night two of a back-to-back for the C’s, as they beat up on the Los Angeles Lakers the night prior. Despite a late-game comeback attempt by OKC, Boston still managed to take home the win. What are some of the top takeaways from the contest?
Takeaways from the Boston Celtics win vs. the Oklahoma City Thunder
1. Drive-and-kicks all day long
Boston’s offense last night looked better than it has all season. A big reason behind that is because they were constantly able to make plays off of drives. Whether it was Dennis Schroder, Jayson Tatum, or Marcus Smart as the ball-handler, the C’s were constantly getting the ball into the paint and creating offense from there. This led to a ton of easy threes, as well as some easy looks at the basket. There was nothing Oklahoma City could do to stop it once they established the drive. It was a beautiful thing to watch after how ugly the offense has been all year long.
2. Dennis Schroder on fire
Dennis Schroder’s ability to run the offense has given the Celtics a much-needed boost in recent games. Last night was no different. He was on fire from everywhere on the court. Schroder was finishing at the rim, dominating the mid-range game, and even knocked down a few threes. He was making plays for others all night, too. The German point guard is only making $5 million this year, and that might be the steal of the offseason. Right now, he looks like the perfect third fiddle to Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown.
3. Jayson Tatum is heating up
Speaking of Jayson Tatum, he put together another great outing last night. This was the third game in a row where he scored over 30 points on very efficient shooting. After some early-season struggles, Tatum seems to be coming back into form. Even when the threes weren’t falling last night, he took his time, established a mid-range game, and then went back to the three-ball. It was vintage Tatum from that point on.
4. Grant Williams is an elite shooter
If the Celtics are a drive-and-kick team, Grant Williams is the drive-and-kick king. Whenever Schroder, Tatum, and Smart get to the rim, he’s always open in the corner. The best part? He’s nailing those shots from the corner with a 55.6 percent success rate. The last time the C’s had someone shoot over 50 percent on corner threes (minimum one attempt per game) was in the 2010-11 season. His name was Ray Allen.
5. Boston’s defense looked off
As great as the C’s looked on offense last night, their defense was a bit out of line. It seemed as though they were giving up a few too many open threes to the Thunder, but luckily for them, the Thunder just weren’t hitting their shots. Once OKC began to get in a rhythm, they were able to mount a couple of comeback attempts. Boston just has to matchup the great offense they played last night with the defense they have been playing over this last stretch.
6. Offense has to play a full game
Boston’s offense was amazing for almost the entire game. The keyword in that sentence was “almost.” There were a few stretches throughout the game where the Celtics reverted back to the offense they played at the start of the season. There was very little ball movement (which was elite last night, for the most part), and guys just held the ball for the majority of the shot clock. They have to play a full 48 minutes, and these sorts of lapses can lead to the comeback attempts we saw last night.
The Celtics’ next game will be tomorrow when they take on the Houston Rockets at TD Garden. The game tips off at 7:30 p.m. (EST) and can be streamed on NBC Sports Boston and NBA League Pass.
