Basketball is an imperfect game. A flow chart of decisions, all boiling down to one end result. Sometimes two teams are so tightly packed together that a single moment can decide the outcome.
That’s what happened on Thursday night.
The Boston Celtics walked into Paycom Center for a date with the Oklahoma City Thunder, and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander did what he does. And the Celtics just couldn’t stop it.
It was an incredible game that was ultimately decided by two points. But what happened in between the lines?
1. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander’s unstoppable quarter
This is what it all boiled down to. The moment that decided the game.
Gilgeous-Alexander, favored to win his second straight MVP award this season, scored 14 points in the final frame. He shot 7-of-8 from the field without attempting a single three-point shot.
How? In 12 minutes of action, how were the Celtics completely unable to stop him? What could they have done differently?
The harsh truth? Not much.
Stan Van Gundy, who was on the broadcast, spent most of the second half begging Boston to double-team Gilgeous-Alexander. To send multiple bodies at him in hopes of slowing him down, because he clearly wasn’t missing shots when guarded by one opponent.
But the real ‘solution’ may have looked a tad different.
Gilgeous-Alexandner got his buckets in a couple of different ways in the fourth quarter. His mid-range mastery is what will stick in the minds of most fans.
His last three buckets of the game all came around the free-throw line. He scored over Hugo Gonzalez once and over Baylor Scheierman twice, as the Thunder worked to get him switched off of Gonzalez.
Sending an extra body could have forced the ball out of Gilgeous-Alexander’s hands, but helping in the mid-range is far more dangerous than helping at the rim.
Gilgeous-Alexander would have had easy kick-out passes to the wing. And though the Thunder shot poorly (2-of-11) from beyond the arc in the fourth, this could have led to open driving lanes for other guys.
Here, Gonzalez could have stayed on Gilgeous-Alexander and double-teamed him, but Chet Holmgren would have had an open roll into the lane. This would have put the Celtics’ defense in rotation, scrambling everything.
Still, when a guy shoots 7-of-8 from the field, almost anything is better than that result.
But the mid-range was far from Boston’s only issue while guarding Gilgeous-Alexander.
Gilgeous-Alexander is always going to thrive in that spot. It’s what makes him an MVP. However, the Celtics’ inability to contest his rim shots early in the fourth opened up the court for him to work down the stretch.
The Thunder superstar got an easy layup to open the fourth quarter because the Celtics were slow in their help defense. Neemias Queta was just late.
Not long after, Queta helped up on the screen against Gilgeous-Alexander to take away his mid-range shot, but he got blown by. The result was another easy shot at the rim.
That’s the danger with Gilgeous-Alexander. If you press up into him to take away the mid-range shot, he’ll drive past you. If you hesitate in an attempt to keep him from driving, he’ll pull up from the mid-range.
And sending a double puts the entire defensive infrastructure at risk if it's not timed perfectly. That said, maybe doubling would have at least forced someone else to beat them at the end of the fourth.
At the start of the quarter, that’s what happened. Jaylen Brown and Payton Pritchard sent help at Gilgeous-Alexander, leaving other guys open. Cason Wallace missed the open three.
The Celtics sent most of their help into the paint, protecting the rim at all costs. Gilgeous-Alexander just made them pay from the mid-range. And that was that.
With Victor Wembanyama, the Celtics chose to give up threes. But Gilgeous-Alexander is a different animal.
There’s nothing to give up. He can drive, shoot, pull up, and draw fouls. Double-teaming him may be the only solution, but late in the game, when a stop is needed, that opens up some dangerous doors.
But perhaps going through those doors and dealing with the consequences would have yielded better results for Boston on Thursday night.
2. Hugo Gonzalez found some light
Though the Celtics were unable to stop Gilgeous-Alexander in his entirety, Gonzalez gave them a fighting chance.
Once the ball gets into Gilgeous-Alexander’s hands, the fate of the possession almost entirely rests in his hands. There’s not much a defense can do because, if they double, then they succumb to his gravity.
But there were a few possessions in this game where Gonzalez was able to either keep the ball out of Gilgeous-Alexander’s hands or make him pass in a one-on-one situation.
Watch this play.
The Thunder ran a set pretty quickly, and Jared McCain took a three, but look at Gonzalez in the corner. More specifically, look at assistant coach DJ MacLeay, who is standing up on Boston’s bench.
MacLeay is urging Gonzalez to press into Gilgeous-Alexander. Gonzalez immediately makes contact, doing whatever he can to keep the Thunder superstar out of the play.
But that type of defense, especially against an MVP-level guy, is only sustainable for so long.
3. The Celtics’ offensive rebounding
Boston may have gotten blown out in this game had it not been for their incredible work on the offensive glass. That was the one area of the game where the Celtics had a clear leg up.
Plays like this one, where Ron Harper Jr. tipped an offensive rebounder to Jordan Walsh, were how the Celtics kept their offense afloat.
And this one, where Luka Garza battles with Homlgren for positioning the entire play and ends up getting the put-back bucket.
But the stats don’t necessarily show just how impressive their extra efforts were.
In the box score, the Celtics only grabbed one more offensive rebound (13) than the Thunder (12). However, taking a closer look, Boston outscored Oklahoma City 23-13 in second-chance points. The Celtics shot 9-of-17, and the Thunder shot 4-of-9.
How is that possible?
Well, the Celtics made a ton of plays to earn themselves extra possessions that don’t necessarily pop up in the box score as offensive rebounds.
On this play, Gonzalez charges toward the paint, seeking out the offensive rebound. But Isaiah Joe fouls him. He never gets credited with a board, and neither do the Celtics, but Gonzalez gets two free throws for his effort.
Those types of plays may not show up in the box score, but they help the Celtics keep their offense flowing.
4. Jaylen Brown’s night
The Thunder made it their mission to shut down Brown. They didn’t want the ball in his hands, and if he did get it, they wanted anyone else to beat them.
Their plan worked, but Brown did his best to play around it.
His six turnovers were a product of just how much pressure Oklahoma City put on him. There were plays in this game where Alex Caruso spent the entire 24-second shot clock just making sure that Brown didn’t get the ball.
He and Lu Dort made it their mission to get up in Brown’s space and make life as uncomfortable as possible for him. And the Celtics superstar still finished the game with 34 points, six rebounds, and seven assists (though he did shoot 10-of-25 from the floor).
Brown did his best to pass out of double-teams and fight through Oklahoma City’s physicality. Like here, he sees the double coming and kicks to Harper for a three.
But the Thunder have the best defense in the NBA for a reason.
5. Ron Harper Jr. minutes
On Tuesday night against the San Antonio Spurs, it was more obvious because of his offensive production. But for the second straight game, Harper played great basketball.
Here, Harper sees the shot clock winding down, drives the closeout from Wallace, and finishes with around Holmgren at the rim.
Then here, watch the defensive hustle. He gets beat on the cut, but rather than getting back to his man, he sees that Garza had already stepped up. So, he sprints all the way to the corner to cover Garza’s man.
And when Caruso drives his closeout, Harper runs back to the other corner to pick up his original man, but the Thunder turn the ball over.
Those two plays, combined with his three-point shot and offensive rebound (as seen above), are exactly why he fits in so perfectly with this Celtics team.
(Maybe he should have played more than 12:12 on Thursday night.)
6. Baylor Scheierman’s progression
As Baylor Scheierman earns more and more trust from the Celtics coaching staff, it’s clear that they’re allowing him to do more and more on the court.
He’s getting some chances to handle the ball in the pick-and-roll, he’s working as a scorer in the mid-range, and he’s even faking drives.
Scheierman has gotten good at driving closeouts, so here, instead of driving into the paint, he steps back. Gilgeous-Alexander gets faked out, and Scheierman nails the triple.
Also, it’s worth noting that Scheierman has become Joe Mazzulla’s go-to inbounder. He can really pass the ball.
All of these progressions are undoubtedly part of the next step in Scheierman’s developmental process, and the fact that Mazzulla keeps trusting him to be on the floor (33:31 against the Thunder) is very telling.
