ESPN SC | “No misprint. No fluke.” – Tim Legler on Thunder beat Suns to reach No. 1 seed in the West

ESPN SC | “No misprint. No fluke.” – Tim Legler on Thunder beat Suns to reach No. 1 seed in the West

Without the injured Devin Booker hosting the Thunder OKC With the Wind they could Elevate to the top of the West that man’s a fashion plate on the left Kevin Durant he doesn’t dress bum but I mean if you’re going to go side by side with SGA you’re probably going to lose most

Of the time bucket there and now here comes the knock away lot D in transition and the Thunder lead by 11 under 40 to go in the half Thunder a big SGA you know he’s going for 30 again thought Doris bur explained it really well Elite handle in tight

Windows you see it right there 18 in the first half Thunder with the big lead and it grows thought we were following a blowout clean look that’s too easy for him 24-point lead but the Suns prove that objects in your rear view are closer than they appear Durant

Hit hits and fouled that’s three the hard way then good ball movement leads to a wide open Corner three shooter Eric Gordon buries that blink of an eye it’s a 10-point game gray now has been a big time player for this Suns team puts it on the floor

Wrong foot no problem 255 run and it’s a four-point game after three Suns down one Gordon all alone top of the key in Rhythm give me all three of these that’s the first lead for the sun since the first quarter but this Thunder team young sure but unfaced by the rally from the

Home team SGA puts him back in front actually ties It Up Down the Lane Jaylen Williams suns have taken the body blows taken the standing eight and now there landed some Haymakers connected Thunder team cheering them on on the floor as the lead begins to grow and it’s now

Eight on the other end Durant with a Miss but let’s give some love to the rebounding prowess of Yousef nurkic 30 rebounds he actually got 31 on the night Jaylen Williams buries that nurish the first guy with a rebound first with more than 30 rebounds since Kevin Love 2010 that’s

A franchise record OKC gets win number 42 on the season two more than they had all of last year which was actually their best campaign since 1920 they own the best outright record the Western Conference looking to claim a one seed for the first Time A A A And then gets out and pressures very few guys are going to make both of those efforts does it don’t have anything right there but Anthony ever does what he’s supposed to he uses the ball screen to get downhill and to engage the center and more importantly you get guys on the

Weak side to have to pinch the lane and what that’s all going to do it creates ball movements you get a reversal to the exactly what they do you see goar diving and look at the weak side James Harden has no choice he’s watching all this

Action he has to pinch in the lane and what that’s going to ultimately create when this ball gets swung over here to Carl Anthony towns watch Harden take the high side towns gets a rim run now that was perfect next possession it’s a one-point game watch Anthony Edwards he

Just kind to kind of Flo around not really involved not really engaged they don’t know what they’re going to run okay is it going to be Carl Anthony towns all right I like this matchup you got James Harden in the post throw the ball into the post instead watch what he

Does I mean Carl Anthony town just runs out to the corner for no reason just showed in the Highlight again I’m not sure what they’re trying to accomplish you run the screen and here comes Anthony Edward two for one that you were trying to do I think they’ve got a

Problem in how they want to close games and exactly who’s going to be the ball who’s the initiator and I can go down every single team in the Western Conference Scott it is clear where the action is going to be in initiated with that top guy and it doesn’t mean they

Have to shoot it but you’ve got to be the guy to draw people you’ve got to occupy and and hopefully it leads to a shot for somebody if not yourself but that’s not what they do at the end of game sometimes and it worries me in a

Tight game in a playoff series all right let’s let’s pivot to the Thunder and context always matters no Booker that’s that’s a significant significant loss for the for the Suns but for OKC this really young team to absorb that haym maker I called a standing eight in the

Highlight right you got that big lead all of a sudden you’re behind and they’re like okay cool now we’re going to put our foot on the gas and they win going away what does that say to you about I know it’s just one of 82 but what does that say to you Collective

Confidence of this group right they I think this team has the best chemistry second best chemistry role definition role Acceptance in the entire league besides Denver they’re so comfortable with what they’re going to do and if you watched what happened tonight after the sun’s hitting with that big run you know

Check back in the game Shay Gil just Alexander and order was restored because they had they had an identity offensively right he gets to his spots on the floor everybody sort of funnels off of him and plays off of him and he took over the game when he checked back

In and he was the best player on the floor tonight Beal had a nice game but shis Alexander outplayed Kevin Durant and their team has this confidence level because they’ve got that guy and everybody knows their Lane and every single night you see those guys play at

A high level because of it their flow is tremendous so they didn’t get rattled when that big run happened with Phoenix they know what they’re capable of doing in a short time frame and they did it last five minutes of the game perfect execution they get the lead again and

They get a nice Road wi word you hear used all the time in basketball connected this group clearly is on the floor and they clearly enjoy each other off of it that is a scary young team I’m believing more in more every time I see there one in the west all right sit

Tight I want to get your thought on this speaking of connected Jason Tatum celebrating birthday number 26 as they welcome the warrior to town Sun deuce in attendance Jaylen Brown was asked on Friday to be we had any special plans for jum’s Birthday what do we

Got Jason tur 26 on Sunday sir you planning anything for his birthday and how have you seen him grow me planning something for JT’s birthday no that was not true that was not true Brown happy birthday I’m going to just light the fuse and this Celtics first quarter was a lot Brown

Again the gift how about a 19point first quarter five of nine from Deep that’s just the first dozen minutes the Celtics lead by 27 Tatum takes it to the rim and this Warriors team has seen enough to know this just ain’t our day bottoms from three Tatum had 20 in the second quarter

Alone you’re down 40 in the first half it doesn’t happen a ton they’ve been on the road for a bit step 0 for nine for deep four points in the first half Warriors bench stunned this what brown said heading into the locker room we feel like we’re the best team in

The league um obviously you know a couple years ago they got us in the finals we still think about that but today we came out and uh we got a first half that we play well but we got a second half to go by rule that is that is accurate 44

Point leaded to half the largest in franchise history and Steve Kerr knows there’s nothing to to be gained by playing guys at the second half Jaylen Brown Dunk pton Pritchard knocks down a three up 56 fans start doing the wave Celtics doing the Wave It’s a blowout

Happens from time to time but the Warriors debacle by 52 a bit of uh history comes out of this one Boston now has three 50-point wins this season they beat Brooklyn Indiana now Golden State by that that margin CES are the first team in the history of the Le with three

Wins by at least half a hundred in a single season during the 11 game winning streak Celtics out scoring opponents by 22.1 a game best figure over any 11 game span by any team in league history it’s been nearly a 30-point margin over the last six on the losing end step 0 of9

From Deep third game of the season without making one from Beyond The Arc had just two games without making a three over his previous six seasons combined Steve cerr some thoughts on what went wrong for Golden State in this one well a break here or there and that

Game was ours but you know stuff happens this is a this you flush it down the down the toilet we had a great road trip 3 in one Boston was amazing we weren’t beating them today I think that we have experiened we’ve grown we’ve matured to

A certain extents we SE seen a lot of different variations of a lot of different basketball so I think we are we’re primed and we’re ready in those moments when we have that same mentality everybody was on the same page would be tough to beat 48- 12 on the season Boston has its

Most wins to this point in a season since their last title winning campaign that was 78 one shot of the most wins through 60 in team history which was also said by two teams who also went on to hang a banner in talking in the room

Upstairs always try to bring that to the set you say all praise for sure to Boston they were spectacular as good as you could possibly be but when Steve says we flush it we don’t care you’ve been in the league when you get crushed like this you truly don’t care why you

Don’t especially for Golden State because their measuring stick is not the Boston Celtics their measuring stick is relevance in the west it really is this is the best team in the league that can be a buzs saw and they can hit you with the flood gates from the three-point

Line and when they do that with all the breakdown capabilities that they have there’s just not much you’re going to be able to do golden state was tired they short-handed Steph wasn’t even gonna play probably wishes he hadn’t actually because only played a half this is what

You get and it’s easy to just immediately push this to the side means nothing in the in the big term picture for the Golden State Warriors at all to me it was just more a referendum on how good Boston can be they lost by 52 it’s

Kind of kind of a lot it’s a lot kind of a lot all right sit tight we’re going to talk about uh wemi in a bit your favorite player to watch play basketball Kaitlin Clark First Blood you have been defeated shoters You have defeated an enemy an ally has been defeated your team has destroyed a tower happiness suffering oh worthless even if my body dies my spirit will last forever strike have been defeated an enemy has been defeated for shoers an ally has been defeated you have been defeated

You have defeated an enemy an enemy has been defeated in the name of Justice you have been defeated an enemy has been defeated double kill an ally has been defeated triple kill victory for foree for fore Speee Speee foree you have defeated an enemy an enemy has been defeated team has destroyed a tower Ally has defeated enemy defeated our base is under attack an ally has been defeated an ally has been defeated you have been defeated Your tower Has and R my

ESPN SC | “No misprint. No fluke.” – Tim Legler on Thunder beating Suns to reach No. 1 seed in the West