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Shai Gilgeous-Alexander wins superstar battle vs. Jaylen Brown as Thunder beat Celtics: 7 takeaways
Fortunately for the Celtics, players of Gilgeous-Alexander's caliber are decidedly uncommon.
Led by Shai Gilgeous-Alexander on a historic evening, the Thunder narrowly escaped with a 104-102 win over the short-handed Celtics on Thursday.
Here are the takeaways.
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander broke a record
Gilgeous-Alexander broke an impressive record — albeit one that isn’t exactly top-of-mind for most people — with a mid-range jumper over Baylor Scheierman in the third quarter, which knotted the game at 69. The Thunder star has now scored 20 points in 127 consecutive games, breaking a record set in 1963 by Wilt Chamberlain.
The shot that made history was emblematic of Gilgeous-Alexander’s game — he stared Scheierman down, backed him off with a series of pump fakes, and coolly rose to fire in a jumper without ever putting the ball on the floor.
Gilgeous-Alexander was brutally efficient: 35 points on 13-for-18 shooting from the field to go with nine assists, which he systematically racked up whenever the Celtics forced the ball out of his hands. While he is often dogged by claims that he relies too heavily on gaming the officials and forcing his way to the free-throw line, he finished 8-for-9 on Thursday— a respectable total which served as a reminder that when he doesn’t grift, he’s still a superstar.
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At his best, Gilgeous-Alexander is mesmerizing — completely unhurried and unbothered by any defense, utterly calm and under control. His offensive subtleties allow him to get where he wants to go, and he expends so little energy on his journey that when he rises for a jumper, he might as well be taking it in an empty gym.
The Celtics threw a lot of good individual defenders at Gilgeous-Alexander, and they were wise enough to get the ball out of his hands on the final possession (and unlucky enough that Alex Caruso’s subsequent miss fell to Chet Holmgren), but there’s only so much you can do against a player of Gilgeous-Alexander’s caliber.
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Fortunately for the Celtics, players of his caliber are decidedly uncommon.
Jaylen Brown nearly ground out a win
Jaylen Brown, by stark contrast, did not have an easy game.
With Derrick White and Jayson Tatum sidelined and facing the NBA’s best defense, Brown shouldered the responsibility of trying to drag the Celtics to a win, and he nearly pulled it off. His jumper with just over 20 seconds remaining evened the game, and he finished with 34 high-effort points (10-for-25 shooting) and seven assists.
Everything Brown did was difficult. He got in foul trouble early and had to be careful not to pick up a fourth for an uncomfortable amount of time in the second quarter. Lu Dort hounded him relentlessly. With other Celtics off the floor, the Thunder focused their defensive attention on him and while Brown’s handle has improved dramatically, OKC still forced six turnovers.
One game removed from screaming at the officials for a foul until he was ejected, and then tweeting his displeasure from the locker room, Brown forced his way to the free-throw line 14 times and made 13 of his attempts. Perhaps Brown’s only easy basket of the entire evening came after a high-effort defensive play — he switched and closed out to Chet Holmgren with lightning speed late in the fourth, swatted his shot away and threw down a big one-handed slam.
Brown’s performance was gritty — a put-your-head-down-and-do-it performance that gave the Celtics a chance to win. Here’s hoping the team’s hotel can figure out how to get him an ice bath.
The Celtics needed a little more from Payton Pritchard
The trickle-down effect of the Celtics’ short-handed roster hit Pritchard hard as well.
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As Dort hounded Brown, Alex Caruso — who is another stellar individual defender on a team full of them — did the same to Pritchard. That proved difficult to overcome for the Celtics, who needed a little more than a 14-point performance on 6-for-17 shooting from one of their best isolation scorers given the amount of offensive production on the bench, although it should be said that we would be singing a different tune if Pritchard’s final field-goal attempt had traveled about five inches further.
Thursday’s game was not really an indictment on Pritchard, who still made several big shots including a tough, crucial jumper with 2:10 remaining as well as a 3-pointer as the buzzer sounded before halftime. If White or Tatum had been available, Pritchard likely would have had a much weaker defender to attack.
But the Celtics really needed more offense, and Pritchard never really got himself going on one of the trademark runs that can break a game open at an important juncture.
Hugo González was everywhere
The Celtics’ second unit as a whole played well, and in the second quarter, they built the lead as high as 12 with Gilgeous-Alexander on the bench, which proved to be Boston’s biggest advantage.
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Several players contributed, including Ron Harper Jr. (who looked like a keeper once again) and Jordan Walsh, who was called into significant service for the second game in a row and impressed on both ends in 12 minutes.
González, however, was the clear standout. He wasn’t perfect defending Gilgeous-Alexander and his lone turnover was a bad one — after a big defensive stop he tried to outlet to Walsh, who had already turned to run the other way.
But González played a phenomenal defensive game with a pair of steals and a block, and he finished 4-for-7 from the field with 11 points and five rebounds. His frantic, relentless energy appeared to wear on the Thunder, and he was responsible for four of the Celtics’ fast-break points as well as four of their second-chance points.
What González will grow into over the next few years still isn’t entirely clear, but he has found a great way to make sure he can contribute in the interim on a consistent basis.
The Celtics looked athletic again
Last year, the Thunder made the Celtics look old, slow, and overwhelmed.
On Thursday, the Celtics had to work for everything, but that’s to be expected against the league’s best defense. Importantly, the Celtics no longer looked overwhelmed against the Thunder’s defensive pressure. They only turned the ball over 12 times, and they out-scored OKC 23-13 on second-chance points, as well as 13-11 in transition.
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The second unit succeeded in part because Gilgeous-Alexander was on the bench, but also because they simply outran the Thunder for a lengthy stretch with a number of players who were not in any NBA rotation last year.
Which leads us to our final point …
This road trip was somewhat confusing
So what do we make of this road trip?
The Celtics lost to the Spurs, but we can’t take a ton from that game given that Brown got himself ejected in the first half.
They also lost to the Thunder, but we can’t take much from that either since White and Tatum were missing.
In short, we didn’t really learn much for certain — the Celtics are working their way back into form with Tatum, and beating the best teams in the Western Conference is a tall order even with a full roster, which they were decidedly without. Simply bringing missing players back to the equation is almost never a 1-to-1 addition — the Celtics couldn’t just automatically pencil in 20 extra points and count on a win in San Antonio if Brown was on the floor, for instance.
But if either of the last two games was a championship preview, we do know that the Celtics — at the very least — look like they are up for the challenge.
What’s next
The Celtics will head back to TD Garden for a three-game homestand, starting with the Wizards on Saturday. The Suns will travel to Boston on Monday, followed by a showdown with the Warriors on Wednesday.
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