7 thoughts on the Celtics' stirring comeback to stun the Thunder

OKLAHOMA CITY -- Seven thoughts on the Celtics' putting together their biggest road comeback during Brad Stevens' tenure as head coach.

1. Kyrie Irving played one of the best halves of his career: The All-Star point guard was pretty blunt when speaking about his mentality in the locker room after going 1-for-9 in the first half from the field and scoring just three points, as the visitors dug an 18-point hole for themselves.

“Well, I was back there trying to contemplate whether I wanted to throw a cooler,” he admitted.

The 25-year-old thought better of the move and honed in on himself instead, playing smarter on the offensive end against an aggressive Thunder defense after intermission. Ultimately he responded with what has to qualify as one of the best all-around halves of his NBA career. He scored 22 points on 9-of-13 shooting, added six assists and had zero turnovers over 17 minutes in the second half, giving him a season-high 25 points on the night. The most encouraging thing about it? Most of it came within the scope of the offense. Irving took open shots when he had them, but also spent just as much time setting up Al Horford in what turned into a dominant two-man game late.

2. Al Horford was perfect in the fourth quarter and his offensive numbers continue to be sensational: For as good as Irving was during winning time, it was the 6-foot-10 big man who buried multiple daggers down the stretch that deflated any hopes of a late Thunder charge. Horford was 5-of-5 in the fourth quarter, including 3-of-3 from beyond the arc as he scored 13 of the Celtics’ 34 points in the final frame. The offensive output was a byproduct of the C’s staying small for virtually the entire second half, which forced Steven Adams to close out on the perimeter.

“I think they were obviously paying a lot of attention to Kyrie on those drives so Al was freed up on that quite a bit,” Brad Stevens said. “Al was playing at the 5 at that time, with either Marcus or Semi at the 4, which obviously puts a 5 on him, which Adams is really capable of but they had a lot of attention on Kyrie. And that’s kind of a tough spot, right? Because Kyrie is so good at getting to the basket. A couple of those occasions, he got a little bit of a sliver of opening off the pick and rolls, mostly it was after the defense was broken down by a drive, a deep drive, and he made big plays, made big shots.”

Horford finished with 20 points, eight rebounds and four assists and he’s shooting a sensational 47 percent from 3-point range on the season. Stevens needs to continue to push Horford to be aggressive offensively, as evidenced by the fact he only took two shots in Boston’s 37-point first half.

3. The Celtics cleaned up their defense and the glass in the second half: Late-game offense from Horford and Irving will get the headlines in this one, but the defensive work by this group in the second half deserves just as much notice. The Thunder managed just 39 points after intermission on 33 percent shooting, as their offense sputtered into a host of long jumpers from the likes of Carmelo Anthony (1-of-12) and Russell Westbrook (3-of-10). The open 3-point looks (5-of-17) disappeared as well, but a crucial element to the lockdown was Boston’s gang rebounding in the second half. The Thunder had just two second-chance points on five offensive rebounds after intermission, despite missing 30 shots. Jaylen Brown (first career double-double with 10 points, 12 rebounds) and was a crucial part of that effective gang rebounding that kept Adams (one second-half rebound) as all five starters pitched in with five or more rebounds. The Celtics also may have benefited from Adams hurting his hand in the first half, as he did not look right for the remainder of the win.

4. Marcus Morris figured things out after a rough start: It wasn’t pretty early for the 6-foot-9 forward during his Celtic debut. A couple of long contested jumpers, a missed layup at the rim and a lack of rhythm within the C’s offensive scheme as a whole made for a dicey adjustment period in the first half. Luckily for Boston, Morris shook off the rust quickly and looked like the guy who scored 15 points per game last year with the Pistons in the second half during his minutes with the starters. He played some effective defense on Anthony (3-of-17 on night) and had a couple of nice takes to the rim, including an old-fashioned 3-point play.

“My wind was actually a lot better than what I thought,” Morris said after scoring nine points in 18 minutes. “I just missed a couple shots. Pretty good though, trying to find my rhythm, trying to fit in the offense, trying to mix up my cuts and drives, stuff like that.”

Stevens appreciated having the veteran presence as an option within his rotation, despite the early struggles.

“I think the hardest part is you know that throughout the course of the season we’re better with Marcus Morris," he said. "He’s going to be an important part of our team so there’s no good time to play your first game, right? You could tell that, in the second half, he got so much more comfortable than in the first half. It was the same way when he played those 8 or 10 minutes in Charlotte a couple weeks ago. You gotta have that first half sometime. I’m glad that he got a game under his belt and I think he really helped us win the game. I thought his play in the second half was really good on both ends.”

5. Semi Ojeleye in crunch time? Semi Ojeleye in crunch time. We’ve seen Jabari Bird, Daniel Theis, and Terry Rozier all come up with big situational fourth-quarter minutes this year already. On Friday, it was Ojeleye’s turn. The rookie forward played 10 minutes in the frame, hitting a crucial corner 3-pointer while helping slow down the likes of Anthony and Westbrook on the defensive end. He didn’t do much that will show up in the box score but he showed plenty of poise for a second-round pick who has been in and out of Stevens’ rotation to start the year.

“We said it the other day, there are no unimportant minutes,” Stevens explained. “And that 3 that (Ojeleye) hit late in the San Antonio game kinda unlocked the door for him. You’re kinda pressing as a young guy that hasn’t played before and so every minute counts. Then he hits a couple against Sacramento and stays in rhythm and feels good about himself and lets it fly. He works as hard as anybody on our team, to the point where we have to tell him to get out some. It’s good to see him rewarded for that.”

6. Brad Stevens continues to have the magic touch: Morris had a terrible first half. What does Stevens do? He starts him in the second half. He saw a Celtics offense that was stuck in the mud early and quickly decided that he couldn’t be playing more than one big at a time against an aggressive Thunder defense. He could have gone with Smart (who was hot early) but he opted for the guy who looked bad early. Aron Baynes came off the bench, Morris gave the starters more spacing, while Ojeleye took over the minutes of Daniel Theis and played a lot at the 4. The net result? A 64-39 win by the Celtics in the second half and another masterful job of Stevens knowing which buttons to push in a tough situation.

“Brad's always poised,” Irving explained. “He's always ready for the next thing, the next moment. He's always preparing us for the next thing. When you have a coach that understands the little things -- and they are not necessarily little things in the grand scheme of things -- but he's always preparing for the next moment or the next play and the next play mentality. When you have a coach like that, it makes your job as a professional just to go out there and play.”

7. Statement win? The lines from players were different depending on who you talked to in the Celtics’ locker room after the second seven-game winning streak of the Stevens era. Irving said it means nothing right now, and he’s right for a guy like himself. He’s been an NBA champion and has played in three straight NBA Finals, so regular season game No. 9 doesn’t carry much extra weight. Still, there’s no denying what a real test this was for Boston. They fought back from a deep hole, much like they did on opening night, and executed on both ends of the floor. Unlike the final few minutes in Cleveland, they came through late as well, scoring on 10 of their final 13 possessions in the win.

The other six wins in the streak were nice, but this one carries a little extra weight when you consider the strength of the opponent as Morris admitted after the game.

“That was a playoff atmosphere out there,” he said. “It was a big, big win for us, especially early to come in here. They’ve got a great team, three guys that are gonna be All-Stars. So to get this win in here, I think that was a statement game for us, being down in the first half, coming back and finishing strong and winning. I think that was a great statement around the league for us.”

Given that the Celtics now hold the best record in the league after nine games, it’s hard to disagree with that assessment. There is a long way to go but this Celtics team is going to be hanging around the top of the East for the foreseeable future.