Historic offensive night for the OKC Thunder in win over Boston

The OKC Thunder entered Tuesday’s game on the heels of two straight losses, in each game they let up 66 points in the paint as they lost their entire big man corp with Jeremiah Robinson-Earl and Aleksej Pokusevski joining Chet Holmgren on the shelf as well as Ousmane Dieng being sidelined for an extended period, it was safe to say the injury bug bit the OKC Thunder.

As they welcomed the best team in the NBA, the Boston Celtics, to the Paycom Center in downtown Oklahoma City, Mark Daigneault began his press conference with an update on Shai Gilgeous-Alexander. The All-Star point guard joined the inactive list, with a non-COVID-related illness which the team only found out about early in the evening before warm-ups.

So now, with Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Jeremiah Robinson-Earl, Aleksej Pokusevski, or Chet Holmgren going up against the Celtics that were only missing Robert Williams and are the reigning Eastern Conference Champions, things looked…bleak.

The OKC Thunder explodes for a historic offensive night against the Boston Celtics posting 150 points thanks to a 48-point third quarter and five players reaching 20 or more points

Walking out of the Mark Daigneault press conference, we all thought the Oklahoma City Thunder would struggle to score the basketball tonight. Not only did they not struggle, but they set a franchise record for points scored. Oklahoma City put up 150 points, the most in franchise history, a franchise that once saw Kevin Durant, James Harden, and Russell Westbrook share the hardwood, and they did it without their best scorer Shai Gilgeous-Alexander.

Josh Giddey led the way with 25 points while shooting 66 percent from the floor and 3-for-5 from distance, hauling in five rebounds, and dishing out five assists while swiping two steals and only needing to play in 24 minutes due to the garbage time nature of the fourth quarter after the dominate third frame.

Oh yeah, speaking of the third quarter, OKC’s best period all season long, that trend continued to the tune of 48 points the most Oklahoma City has ever scored in a single quarter. Despite not needing to mount a comeback, rather keep their foot on the gas, the Thunder found that same third-quarter success to put on more steam and blow the game wide open.

Giddey was joined by Isaiah Joe, Jalen Williams, and Tre Mann who all had 21 points, just behind Lu Dort’s 23-point night on the offensive end while shooting 53 percent from the floor. This is the second time in Thunder history that five or more players have reached 20 or more points, and OKC is also the last team to reach this plateau.

The Thunder once led by 37, their largest margin of the season, and it could not have been done without the team shooting 59 percent from the floor and 50 percent from deep in this contest including 77 points in the paint.