Grading the Thunder starters:
The Thunder’s young superstar shined bright on the second night of a back-to-back in Boston. Gilgeous-Alexander managed to drop 37 points on 50% shooting to add to his plethora of impressive performances thus far. Down the stretch, he hit some shots to keep the Thunder afloat, but it wasn’t quite enough. SGA played a critical role in the Thunder’s playmaking against the Celtics as he accounted for eight assists, a game-high. The guard’s defensive impact was also on display with a couple of steals and a block on the night.
The TD Garden proved to be a tougher task than MSG. Following a record-setting performance against the Knicks, Josh Giddey was unable to replicate his success in Boston. While he finished with 16 points, Giddey shot 6-of-17 from the floor and hit just one three in his six attempts. As Giddey is typically looked upon to provide a large chunk of the playmaking, he fell short of his duties by only being able to add four assists while committing seven turnovers.
Dort finished the night as the Thunder’s second-leading scorer with 21 points. Although it was a bit of a rough shooting night for the fourth-year wing, shooting only 38% from the field. Dort did knock down three shots from beyond the arc, tying his season-high. Dort’s biggest play of the night came with less than three minutes to go when he drove in and got an and-one courtesy of a goal tend by Derrick White to tie the game up.
The Thunder’s highest-drafted rookie to play this season made his imprint on the game from tipoff. Williams was responsible for OKC’s first six points of the game and looked comfortable shooting jumpers. Williams put in another eight points throughout the game, pushing his total to 14 with six boards to go along with it. Along with most of his teammates, Williams’s effort on the defensive end was noticeable despite it not showing up in the box score.
Make an impact. It’s all that can be asked from Aleksej Pokusevski as he develops, and he delivered once again. Poku grabbed his second double-double of the season behind a season-high 14 rebounds. His continued development as a scorer showed with 16 points including a couple of three-pointers. Meanwhile, his defense is becoming more and more of a factor as he blocked three shots and also had a steal on the night.