The OKC Thunder loses a heartbreaker to the Celtics but five takeaways offer up helpful tips moving forward this season.
Although there aren’t points awarded for moral victories this match between the OKC Thunder and Boston Celtics offered plenty to be proud of for this young team.
It was noted in the grades and preview just how closely these two clubs always seem to play each other and this match was no different. And while the result didn’t go the way Thunder fans were hoping there were many positives to pull from the game.
Make no mistake the Boston Celtics are a contender for the title – whether they possess enough frontcourt size to deal with any of the other East’s powers will be the biggest factor for them as they wage their battle for Larry O’B.
In terms of what the Thunder can learn from the game is they truly aren’t that far off being in the upper echelon and the one-point loss only served to punctuate that fact.
Specific tweaks can be made to improve the overall product and if this was a team the Thunder were facing in a series I’d like the chances for OKC who could capitalize on their defense and size. Unfortunately, that won’t be the case unless both clubs were to meet in the NBA Finals and while that’s not out of the question it’s not a likely end result — at least this season.
With that – let’s take a look at the five takeaways from the match versus the Boston Celtics.
Bunnies kill the Thunder:
Small things will win or lose you a game and in this match, those bunnies just weren’t playing fair.
One after another the ball would rim out or hit the edge of the rim and bounce into the awaiting Celtics player hands. In clutch time alone, there were multiple missed opportunities based on those uncooperative bunnies.
In under two minutes starting at 3:45 mark of clutch time each of SGA, Adams, Gallo, and CP3 watched as bunnies bounced out of the basket and then Schroder capped it off as his shot at :24 also bounced out.
The law of averages would state this will work to the club’s advantage in a future match, but instead, perhaps it’s time to go at the basket with more force to ensure those bunnies become rim blasts instead of leaving it in the basketball Gods hands.