Josh Giddey’s four three pointer night not enough vs Celtics

The OKC Thunder traveled to the TD Garden in Boston, Massachusetts to take on the Boston Celtics. Each squad was on the second leg of a back-to-back set. For the Thunder, they were entering the tilt fresh off a loss to the Milwaukee Bucks in a game the boys in blue never led. The Celtics were riding high after getting back to .500 via a dominating win over their arch-rival Lakers.

The Oklahoma City Thunder were without Mike Muscala, one of their better players as the 30-year-old veteran is posting a career year from the perimeter shooting 46-percent from deep, nearly ten percentage points higher than his career average clip from the three-point line. The Bricktown Boys also had to battle without a few G-League assignees, Tre Mann, Vit Krejci, Theo Maledon, and Paul Watson Jr. However, the Thunder were not just missing players tonight, they also played their second game without their head coach.

Mark Daigneault, the team’s full-time bench boss, remained in OKC with his wife Ashley as the two prepare for the birth of their child. Dave Bliss took over the tasks of the head coach and had a fun pregame interview in Boston. Bliss reminisced about recruiting Derrick Favors out of high school, playing against Celtics big man Al Horford, and giving a behind-the-scenes look at the responsibilities of the coaching staff.

The OKC Thunder were not alone in missing key pieces, the Celtics did not have their second option and all-star caliber wing Jaylen Brown tonight, nor their young big man Robert Williams II. Still, the Celtics found success out of the gate and never looked back. Boston fought off Thunder runs throughout this game.

OKC Thunder fall to Boston Celtics 111-105

Josh Giddey had a great night, as he illustrated after the game saying “the ring looked wider tonight” it was good for the Rookie NBL product to see four of his three-point attempts fall, as the 19-year-old struggled from distance and all walks of shooting this season. Giddey scored 15 points, eight rebounds, and a trio of assists to go along with his one steal with just two turnovers to boot.

The Oklahoma City Thunder fanbase still sits on the edge of their seat, waiting with bated breath for Shai Gilgeous-Alexander to have a classic Shai Gilgeous-Alexander game again. After nearly turning in a .60/.40/.90 2021-22 campaign, the max contract point guard is not as efficient as we are used to seeing. Tonight was much of the same that fans have witnessed throughout this week-long cold spell, putting up 30-percent from the floor, but making 42-percent of his triples and cashing in on three of his five free throws. In the counting stats, the star guard poured in 14 points, three rebounds, and three assists.

As Dave Bliss and company saw the Celtics swell their lead to 25 at one point, the OKC Thunder were kept in the game mainly by the bench spark given off by shooting guard Ty Jerome. Off the pine, the UVA product shot 71-percent from the floor to the tune of 12 points, a rebound, and an assist in just 14-minutes of action.

Rookie big man Jeremiah Robinson-Earl showed up in a big way hitting a trio of triples off the bench for OKC on his way to 13 points, eight rebounds, and an assist in the relief of starting center Derrick Favors. Enough of these Kevin Cash-style Bullpen days, JRE needs to be the OKC Thunder starting center against every matchup.

The Thunder saw five crack double-figures and two more have nine, but the Jayson Tatum and Dennis Schroder tandem were too strong. The two Celtics combined for 62 of the team’s 111 points. The OKC Thunder faithful saw a ton of familiar faces on the other sideline. From Al Horford, Enes Kanter, the aforementioned Schroder, not to mention Oklahoma native Josh Richardson and Oklahoma State product Marcus Smart.

The Oklahoma City Thunder drop two games in a row and wrap up their road trip on Monday against the Atlanta Hawks after falling to the Celtics, 111-105. After returning to Bricktown, the OKC Thunder will be back in action at the Paycom Center Wednesday as they welcome in the Utah Jazz.