Though the Boston Celtics may have been the team that initially came out swinging during Sunday's primetime matchup, the OKC Thunder ultimately wrapped up the night with the last laugh.
Overcoming a double-digit deficit and a lackluster shooting discrepancy (51.1 percent conversion rate for C's compared to 41.7 percent) heading into halftime, right out of the gates for the third period it seemed that Oklahoma City had a rejuvenated sense of energy to them as they rattled off a 9-5 run during roughly the first three minutes.
From then on out, it appeared that momentum had completely shifted to the Thunder, as they would outscore Boston 50-27 during the final two quarters while cashing home on 48.7 percent of their shots from the floor and 50.0 percent from distance.
Comparatively, the Celtics as a whole were held to a lowly 20.0 percent shooting and an even more reprehensible 12.5 percent shooting from deep. However, perhaps the biggest takeaway from OKC's second-half surge came in the form of holding star forward Jaylen Brown to a whopping 0 points during his 19 minutes of play post mid-game break.
The reigning NBA Finals MVP was off to a scorched-earth hot start to the contest, as he led all scorers with 21 points while shooting a highly efficient 66.7 percent from the floor during the initial two periods.
However, the latter quarters proved to be a completely different story for Brown, and, following the contest, Celtics coach Joe Mazzulla revealed how the Thunder managed to flip this impressive switch, and who, in particular, led the charge in shutting down the club's cornerstone.
Joe Mazzulla name-drops Thunder wing Lu Dort as difference-maker
"Part of it was they changed matchups and they took advantage of our poor spacing and our poor screening... They moved Dort to [Jaylen], that had a little bit to do with it," Mazzulla said.
During his postgame presser, coach Mark Daigneault also corroborated Mazzulla's take on the second-half matchup change being a real difference-maker in the game, saying "Dort started the game on Tatum and then Dort went to him once he got it going, and I thought Lu did a great job on him."
Outside of his defensive excellence on both the Jays (held Tatum to just 11 points in the first half), Dort proved to be the main catalyst in Oklahoma City's win due, in large, to his offensive heroics, especially during the pivotal fourth quarter where he scored 11 of his 14 total points while cashing in on all three of his long-range shots during the final 2:22 of regulation.
Though securing the win took a full team effort, it's evident that the veteran proved to be the ultimate X-factor for the Thunder on the night what with his sensational two-way showing. In turn, Dort played a massive role in the team extending their win streak to 15 straight and helping widen their lead in the standings between them and the second-seeded Rockets to seven wins.
The Thunder wrap up their five-game home stand boasting a record of 30-5 and now hit the road for a four-game East coast trip where their first two matchups will be against the red-hot Cleveland Cavaliers and New York Knicks, respectively.