Boston Celtics comeback falls short against Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, OKC Thunder

Boston Celtics comeback falls short against Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, OKC Thunder

Boston Celtics made it close but not close enough the Oklahoma City Thunder art for real Shake G’s Alexander wow we’re GNA talk about this loss one that’s easy to swallow right now on the lockdown Celtics podcast recognize the city champ Boston baby we do what you can’t locked on

Number 18 Tatum and brown J team step back we going to wet that and slay teams of course the Celtics who else could it be screaming like kg with the lario be Coralis above average assessing the team status best daily pod no cap salary matching clutch like bir the DJ John on

Replay Prime Time dapping up the truth on the sideline R J’s how started raising B how we finish locked on Celtics pod home of the winners hey there welcome back to the lockdown Celtics podcast right here in the lockdown podcast Network where’s your team every day and I’ve got you

Every day a free fresh podcast that drops directly to your device if you subscribe so make sure you are subscribed and watch the show on YouTube hop in the comment section let me know what you think about the Boston Celtics 12713 loss a loss that doesn’t happen

Very often to the Oklahoma City Thunder later on I’ll talk about the connection how this Thunder team is kind of sort of a younger version of the Boston Celtics we’ve seen a lot of this movie before uh and so I’ll talk about that later OKC is

Very much for real talk about that uh let’s just get into this game which was a chess match I in the in the broadcast you heard uh Brian scalabrini talking about how like the the fans here just don’t understand what’s going on like like scal was seeing this game I don’t know

If you ever watched the good place I love the show uh where there’s one scene scene where Michael is like oh I’m sorry I don’t I I don’t forget that you don’t guys don’t see an eight Dimensions he’s kind of like moving invisible things around his office like the whole place

It’s empty that we see but the whole thing seems like he’s acting like it’s full of stuff that’s how scow was in his you know he’s seeing in eight dimensions and he understands like a million things that are going on in this game is like the the people here don’t understand

Everything that’s happening in this game this is a great game between these two teams and and it was it was a real chess match and the Thunder were hitting everything Thunder uh and Shay guildas Alexander legit they are a legit team they are legitimately good and uh they they had an answer for

Everything Boston had to offer early on uh and you know it’s important like this this game was close they the thunder came out for you know took a lead the Celtics came back kind of T tied things up they actually took a lead at the half

The third quarter was a disaster for the most part but still the Celtics had an opportunity they actually had a chance at the end of the third quarter to cut this thing to like seven or six they had a chance uh and the fact that they had

That chance and then it went into the fourth quarter basically um where the Celtics were I think they went down what 12 heading into the fourth that you know they they had their opportunities and they they couldn’t cash in uh they had this great comeback The Comeback was amazing it was a

27-1 was the uh the Crux of the run there was there’s a longer run but that’s that’s really where the Celtics made their their biggest noise they got the thing down to two twice now it was 18 with I know half the half the fourth

Quarter to go and I just felt like my reaction I tweeted it out I wrote it on Boston Sports Journal it said this this is the first time this season where the Celtics have just been beaten now people bring up the Oklahoma City and Oklahoma City I mean

Uh uh Orlando and Orlando did play the Celtics very physical and and they did beat the Celtics the Celtics also shot horribly in that game that was that was something where it was a little bit of an outlier on top of everything like this one wasn’t as much outlier uh as that

One I say that with acknowledging like Jaylen Brown had a bad game Drew holiday had an awful game and if either of those two guys has a normal game maybe this is a different uh scenario the Celtics still didn’t shoot particularly well uh in the third quarter especially it

Didn’t shoot great at The Rim but also that that’s the Chad holgren effect Chad was legit like he scared the Celtics they they did not want to attack holgren because he’s an elite shot blocker and they they just didn’t want to challenge him at The Rim so yeah there there were

Outliers here as well but it just felt like Oklahoma City just came out with a purpose they played they played like their best they played their absolute best up up until that run at the end of the fourth quarter and I thought that this was just hey Oklahoma City is

Beating beating the Celtics they’re playing great and and this is just heyy as I’ve said on this podcast a million times already and I’ll probably say it a million more even if you think the Celtics are going to win 60 games that’s that means they’re going to be 22 losses

If you think they’re going to win 65 games that means they’re going to be 17 losses and this was what loss number seven so they’re gonna have to be some losses in there somewhere right so this is one of them and this might be the actual easiest

Loss for me to kind of swallow just from there’s there’s plenty that they can do better absolutely uh sometimes guys have bad nights and I’m not gonna hold bad nights against good players like it’s one thing to be like this guy’s playing with his head you know stuck up his butt

And he can’t figure it out and he’s just he’s going through bad habits and stuff stuff like that uh you know we can criticize guys somewhat but like if you’re just having a bad night guys have bad nights Jaylen Brown I thought had a simple bad night he scored 15 points

Four of 18 shooting 0 of eight from three he got to the line seven of eight that one free throw he missed if I’m going to criticize anything it’s that free throw uh some of the turnovers early on F like he was pushing it he was forcing it a little too much

Um little a little bit of a criticism there but my overall Jaylen Brown feeling from this game was chalk it up it’s a a bad night for him he’s too good to have too many of these bad nights and you know you move on he’s gonna have

He’ll have one or two more of these uh over the course of the Season every great player has one of these whatever if he has a normal game the Celtics maybe win this maybe they take a lead earlier maybe they have a lead maybe they don’t have the third quarter that

They had he did play um you know somewhat well in the fourth he he ended up shooting three of eight not shooting particularly like three of eight four of eight is 50% um but he had nine points uh tied with Derek white for the most so

Uh he he also in the fourth quarter played well so like I’m not going to hold the overall Jaylen Brown game against him Drew holiday was just bad it might be the worst Drew holiday game uh we’ve seen in a long time never mind uh

This season this is this is a really bad Drew holiday game Not only was he two of eight he did hit two of five from from three that’s 40% uh he did have seven assists he was a minus 15 and a legit minus 15 he could not

Stay with Shay gilis Alexander he by the end of his his time there uh he was standing still on some possessions uh there’s The Possession at the end of the third quarter the Celtics uh get a stop they they bring it down the other end uh holiday completely misses first of all

Holiday gets the ball in the left wing he tries to find Al Horford throws the pass behind Al Horford and nearly turns it over so I don’t know he he wasn’t on point at all uh with that pass then he gets the ball back he gets it to the rim

He completely misses a point blank layup uh and then the thunder come down the other end and and score and it’s it was because holiday had just I don’t know what was going on defensively he was awful offensively he was mostly awful just what are you

Gonna do I holiday is too good to have this me this many bad games as well uh whatever whatever right like whatever what what can I say he’s Drew holiday he’s too good for this and so he’ll be better in the next game it’s G to happen it’s G to happen

Uh the Celtics in this chess match paid a price christops porzingis they put him on Josh Giddy and that didn’t work but the chess match continued on and things changed to to kind of key this comeback I’ll talk about that stuff uh in just a second Today’s Show is brought to you by

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Day go check out the lockdown sports today channel the first ever 247 national sports streaming Channel on YouTube go check it out uh it’s unlike anything else put it on leave it on forget about debate shows and people yelling at each other and making up reasons to yell at each other this is

The lockdown podcast Network the local experts having real meaningful conversations about the sports that you love check it out over at lockon sports today on YouTube I think one of the reasons why the Celtics lost this game was uh they made a choice to put Chris thops porzingis on Josh Giddy and have

Him roam and you know this this is where you might say Joe got a little too cute with it uh but it’s it’s a it’s a strategy that has worked for them and it’s been kind of a baseline for the Celtics strategy in general going back to the

Days of Robert Williams you use your shot blocker as a RoR you put him on the other team’s weakest shooter and you live with the results and hopefully as a RoR he’s able to help out and and anchor a a really strong defense well it didn’t quite work out the way they

Wanted it to Giddy started off hitting shots kind of never stopped eight of 14 overall four of seven from three 23 points he also had six assists and eight rebounds uh that’s a strategy that kind of backfired uh they so they got porzingis on Giddy and he’s he’s hitting shots so what’s the

Natural reaction when the guy you’re guarding and you’re supposed to be helping off of hits shots well the natural reaction is you stay closer to that guy but the whole point of keeping porzingis on giddy was for him to help and slow down Shay gild Alexander so he

Doesn’t get all the way to the rim because that’s what he loves to do and as gidy was making shots porzingis stayed up a little closer and uh SGA started getting to the rim and and he couldn’t miss and he has this thunder offense just rolling now that changed in the fourth

Quarter because they switched Tatum onto sheay gilis Alexander uh holiday could not like I said could just could not stay in front of SGA at all just again an awful just an awful night for him but when when Tatum covered Shay it changed right he he the length bothered him uh his quickness

Bothered him uh Tatum’s quickness and that turned uh a really explosive night for Shay ildis Alexander into an 0 for three fourth quarter and um an opportunity for the Celtics to come back now he did get his fourth personal foul early there’s a lot of talk about well why didn’t the

Celtics Target Target him they did they went at him uh there were a couple times where he didn’t foul there are a couple times where he could have filed uh there there’s certainly an understanding on the floor with the officials that hey this guy’s in foul trouble so we’re not

Going to get him to sit on the bench unless he really fouls and I think he might have gotten away with a couple one one kind of reach in and one offensive foul hey that that’s kind of part of the game that’s gonna happen but the fourth quarter I thought

It was really smart to make that switch uh that that whole chess match between these two teams of how they were guarding and and switching to do different things and hey let’s try a Zone oh our Zone’s getting crushed let’s try something different and

And it ended up being like a fun kind of back and forth for sure uh the the Celtics were able to exploit a couple of things and then they turned around and exploited a couple more things down the stretch with with how they were being defended and how they were defending the

Thunder and they almost pulled this this comeback off uh Tatum I thought started slow but ended up playing really really well 30 points 13 rebounds eight assists a steal he also had four turnovers but I thought his his play down the stretch was integral to the comeback

And uh same with Derek white Derek white 19 points six assists five rebounds uh he play play some great defense switching on to sgaa now Shay gildas Alexander is an MVP candidate legit MVP candidate 36 points seven assist six rebounds for him uh one steel no turnovers I mean that’s meast star stuff

Uh the only thing you could say is that he was five of eight from the line everything else was was great 64% shooting 60% from three like everything was when he’s going like that it’s impossible impossible to beat the Thunder I I said before the game that

They are a live and die by the three uh team they shot 45% from three they’ve only lost once this season where shoot you shoot more than 40% um they they’re I forget what how many wins they have but they’ve only got one loss uh so that was that was going

To be the big key before the game when I wrote it on Boston Sports Journal hitting the three-pointers if if those things are falling then the Thunder are impossible to beat especially at home and that’s what you got you got SGA hitting three of five giney four of

Seven holr three of five homrs last three-pointer with about two minutes to go was a killer I mean that was a clutch clutch shot Celtics had it to six there’s two and change to go uh porzingis I think might have been able to close out a little bit better on that

But holen buries the shot just crushing crushing shot porzingis has an opportunity to answer later on uh his his toe is on the line so that was a real important play because if he had hit that three it would have been a one-point game and the Celtics could have played

The foul game and they would have gotten the ball back with a chance to tie rather than uh the chance to W with the the Thunder up four so uh hom grin just clutch and like I said he’s uh his his Rim protection was amazing he’s gonna be the Rookie of the

Year he’s gonna be the Rookie of the Year I said it before the season um I wrote about it I’ve talked about it I think Homen as rookie of the year uh he’s he’s good enough when I saw him in the preseason I said oh yeah this this

Guy’s got it I tell right away that this guy’s got it U he’s he’s better than Victor wanyama at the moment although wemi is a clearly a bigger talent and will will pass him quickly this season on this team for homeg to have this kind of impact is is

Huge huge uh I know he’s a seconde guy but um and I’m normally against secondy Year guys making the uh the rookie of the year but the rules are the rules and he’s going to be the that wins it because he’s he he moves well he moves

Better than wenyama I think at this stage just at this stage and having that year in the league he understands the league a little bit better so you know shout out to the thunder man there’s this was this was the thunder came out and we’re better than the

Celtics for enough of the game for 40 uh no 30 I’ll say 38 minutes 37 minutes they were just flat out better than the Celtics and then they kind of eased up and that’s where that’s really where I said huh these Thunder are kind of like the

Celtics used to be it’s like a different version of the Celtics I I’ll get into that a little bit in just a second Today’s Show is brought to you by game time take the guesswork out of buying last minute tickets go to the game time app use the code locked on NBA

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But because the Celtics played too much for me to do afterwards but I’m sure Jake and my Fillin have this thing locked down to hopefully he’s not too good hopefully I’m not Wally pipped over here and uh I’m off the show now I’ll be on the show check out lock. NBA whole

League covered uh in a fun way wherever you found this PO you know I’m just I don’t I’m not bothered by this loss one bit I’m not bothered by this loss at all the Celtics I thought played generally good basketball minus the third quarter where

They they had a a rough they haven’t had a rough third quarter in a long time like more than a month um not too worried about it guys have bad games I’m not too worried about it this is this is a loss that I can easily swallow process move on from it

Not the biggest deal in the world the Celtics made their comeback so they didn’t quit that’s good that’s important um and as they were making their comeback I I looked at this team and I said wow this Thunder team it really is very much like the Celtics uh in the past

Because I compared it to like the the the biopic or is it biopic of you know the you take like I just saw ironclaw right the the Von Erics the car the von Eric movie uh if you don’t know the story of the Von Erics I won’t spoil

The story for you but it was a wrestling family from my childhood so back in the 70s and ‘ 8s and there are details in the story that happened to the family not exactly the way they happened in the movie right something happens in the movie

And it really is kind of like well yes that happened to this character this person but in real life it happened like after the fact and there was a couple of things in between and in the movie they said no we’re not going to do all those

Other things in between we’re going to make it so this happens under this scenario and so it’s not it’s a like a it’s like a dramatization a little bit right they take all the details from these things that really happen and they combine a couple and they smooth over a

Couple so it’s easier to consume as a movie well the Thunder are kind of like that when it comes to the Celtics in relation to the Celtics they it’s not the exact same timeline but here they have a star that’s an MVP candidate they have uh an athletic young shot blocking

Center coming off of an injury we know that story uh they’ve got a ton of draft picks and they are in every rumor because of those draft picks uh there’s a bunch of people saying you need to make this trade you need to be trading for this guy whichever guy any guy

Because you’ve got too many draft picks as it is and you can’t have you can’t keep everybody we know that story it doesn’t happen all at the same time like this in Boston’s past but we’ve seen it and I think it’s interesting because the Celtics almost serve as a cautionary tale to the

Thunder yes there are tons of draft picks yes there are opportunities to make trades however be careful about the trade that you make because if you just say no you just go get anybody because you’ve got all these picks and players and youth and whatever and you can

Consolidate some of the talent and bring in this this high level player don’t bring in the wrong highle player because the Celtics did that and they paid dearly for it and they didn’t know they were doing it at the time I didn’t think they were doing it at the time but it

Turns out Kyrie Irving kind of was not great for the Celtics and the Thunder actually have to be careful about that don’t just trade for anybody I would rather see the the Thunder just try to navigate their drafts than and find some like don’t don’t make the trade not that they’re

Going to make a trade for Zack LaVine because Sam prey is much much smarter than that but be careful about who you who you are trading for and so I I just feel like watching them and you know the the Celtics have not historically been great with big leads because they relax and

Either they think the game is over or they’re not sure exactly how to close the game out and that leads to some pressing and it leads to uh making some mistakes because you’re kind of in your own heads we saw the thunder make those mistakes and let the Celtics hang around

And get back into it Sam prey’s an excellent GM he’s torn that thing down and built it back up and now is their time to make a move but it has to be the right move and you have to be careful because if you do the wrong

Thing it can derail you and it could take a lot longer than you think to get out of that the Celtics have made Corrections on Corrections and only now are they back to just purely contending uh and their window is a lot smaller the honestly the Celtics window

Is this season next SE next season that’s their window and maybe a move can be made to extend it but the Celtics are expensive they are the more expensive they get the more prohibitive the rules get and the less they’re going to be able to improve their team and all this stuff the

Thunder are G to get there soon because guys are gonna have to get paid and all of that stuff and the Thunder like they’re benign to me so like yeah am I rooting for the Thunder to do well yeah because um Sam Sam’s an Emerson College guy I’m an

Emerson College guy like I want I want all my Emerson former basketball players to do well uh including Will Dawkins in Washington and you know others who are coaching around the g-league and International Teams around like I I root for all of them to do well and so yeah I

Want Sam prey to do well in Oklahoma City and hopefully for for them that that leads to a championship and at some point they can celebrate that now the Celtics window is small because of the second apron and all that stuff but the Celtics window is also small because Victor wanyama exists

And that’s gonna go that’s GNA change quickly in San Antonio and sgaa and Chad hren as a combination exists in Oklahoma City and I think that is going to be a championship combination those two guys plus somewhere along the way somebody that they trade for that will be a championship combo

So just be careful OKC because we’ve seen we’ve seen this movie before in Boston now the Celtics have thankfully gotten past it the Thunder have to navigate that road but it’s interesting to see the parallels uh I will be back with a podcast tomorrow podcast for you Thursday going into Friday and then

Friday night they play and they play on Saturday night so I’ll be podcasting every day this week make sure you get your uh app your favorite podcasting app make sure you’re subscribed to the podcast make sure you click that button and get notified when I drop a new vid

New uh Audio new video on YouTube bring the Bell there hop into the comment section if you’re an everyday thank you so much for being an everyday when you’re at a game in Boston section 19 section 19 is my section come on down you’ll see me in the media section you

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Podcast tell everybody they should be listening to and watching the lockon Celtics podcast right here in the lockdown podcast Network it’s your team every day

The Celtics came out and hung around in OKC, falling behind early but taking a halftime lead. Then they got smoked in the third quarter before mounting a furious comeback that fell just short. John Karalis of Boston Sports Journal gets into the chess match between the teams, how the initial Kristaps Porzingis assignment hurt them, the rough nights for Jaylen Brown and Jrue Holiday, the big fourth quarter rally, and more.

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Locked On Celtics is a daily Boston Celtics podcast by Boston Sports Journal beat writer John Karalis. It’s an inside look at the C’s from a former professional basketball player who is at practices & games.

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