“Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is a top 5 player in the NBA” – Tim Legler on Thunder beat Celtics 127-123

“Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is a top 5 player in the NBA” – Tim Legler on Thunder beat Celtics 127-123

Well the Thunder knew going up against the Boston Celtics the team with the number one record in the NBA it was going to be a 48 minute game and that’s exactly what took place all 48 minutes filled with high-scoring action between these two teams and ultimately it was

The Thunder with some late game heroics to walk away with a fourpoint victory to defeat the Boston Celtics as we welcome you inside of pcom Center and into Thunder live postgame I’m Paris Lawson sitting next to our very own Royce young and Roy what a balanced complete effort

By the Thunder shown against the Celtics tonight yeah the Thunder this was a this was a battle throughout and you know the Thunder built that 18-point lead Paris and it felt like this was another game where OKC kind of had a chance to maybe put it away early but I think in some

Ways it’s kind of good experience that the fact that the Celtics came back in this one Thunder got sloppy lost the ball a few times fouled a little bit too much but having to grind through those closing minutes make clutch free throws make big shots and put a game away

Against a great team like Boston I think it’s going to pay dividends for this Thunder team down the line yeah you know they’re taking all of those lessons from this sort of situation and carrying them forward as they go throughout their season let’s bring in Chris fiser and

Michael cage who are on the call for us on the sideline tonight guys yeah thank you Paris anytime you have two teams with these kind of Records coming into a game like this you hope that it ends up kind of becoming a game like this and this one was close down the stretch

Can’t ask for anything more than that the Thunder build without that big 18-point lead but because of all the success that the Boston Celtics have had over the last couple of years you knew this game was going to be tight down the end and thunder made just enough plays

Well in my opinion this is the game of the year it’s the first game of the year but it’s the game of the year folks it couldn’t have started off any better in in 2024 for the Thunder because you play the top dog and this team has been has

You know top record on the road uh hasn’t lost at home six-game winning streak coming in here and you had to wrestle away uh that that momentum from that first quarter I thought the big part of this ball game was that third quarter where the Thunder kind of you

Know had that big step up they got what 40 points in that third quarter and had the Celtics chasing them from that point on and and that’s something the the Celtics are not used to because they’re they’re so good at scoring the basketball and they don’t make a lot of

Mistakes and that’s why they were able to cut into that deficit that was as much as 18 in the second half they they got rid of it just like that and all of a sudden this game became almost like a chess match between the two coaches uh parison Royce I think that Michael’s

Setting the bar pretty high for the game of 2024 I know we’ve got a lot more to go we sure do but this was certainly a great way to start this New Year Chris and Mike thank you so much and Roy the other great thing about this game was

Just the energy in this building I mean these Thunder fans were standing for the final minute and a half of this game that you could just tell from the outset that there’s going to be a lot of energy in this building again you just talk about the kind of experience that comes

From these type of games I mean I’m not going to use the p word that we’re all kind of thinking about but you know what with with these types of games that kind of energy that reverberates through the building the players feel that and so

You know you can feel the stakes in a game like this and a good team like Boston comes back but like cage talked about that that third quarter and then into the fourth quarter those th those sequences there building that lead up and then holding on to it great win for

The thunder tonight certainly and it started all the way back at minute number one this game was so just so back and forth and truly the thunder came out firing on all cylinders offensively they would make their first three shots of the game and it would come from three

Different guys yeah absolutely and you know setting a good tone out of out of the off the tip Paris is always a priority for every single team you want to start well and then you you’re getting good looks for Josh giddy another game where he hits four threes

That’s two straight games that Josh has done that he shot the ball really well had another great offensive game tonight but again Boston what stood out to me in this whole first half but especially the first quarter too is just how high level these teams play because this was really

Good offense I felt like this was as good a ball movement that the Thunder faced all year the rotations that the Thunder had to try to hit consistently against Boston’s offense was really really challenging you know what stood out to me here is the thunder went small

In this the second half of this first quarter with kenri Williams as the deao five he played so physical against Chris DBS porzingis and gave the Thunder such big minutes and allowed this group to play to their strengths and you see Lou Dort there knocking down one of the

Thunder’s 18 made three-pointers tonight another good shooting night got a good volume of them shot 40 of them Chris porzingis played a heck of a game for Boston really posed a lot of matchup issues because that’s what he does Isaiah Joe’s shaking loose it was kind

Of funny in this first half par I kept sitting there going how’s Isaiah Joe getting so open it just felt like he was getting open but you know one of the things that about Isaiah Joe is then he hits you with that back door cut that is

Such a high level high IQ thing that a great shooter like him does Royce you got to keep him honest and Isaiah Joe has been doing just that great minutes by vasilia MIT in this game as well has not been in the rotation consistently all season long but when his number is

Called he delivers and he certainly did that tonight and we’ll get to him later in the fourth quarter but again he was part of that group that really came out in the fourth quarter and set a good tone but K Wallace here hitting kenri Williams just continual movement for the

Thunder just finding little pockets of space but again the Celtics I mean they just play Such difficult offense to guard they’ve got so many good players uh you know I thought the Thunder did a great job against Jason Tatum specifically in that first half really making him play in a crowd but porzingis

Was a huge threat I mean look at that that that’s just a high level shooter high level shot there that was a good close out by case Wallace but that’s what going to do speaking of high level Shooters how about that Lefty finish that is outrageous just no gather just

Straight into the Lefty layup that’s crazy if you’re a Defender you all you can do is look over to your coach and just kind of like shrug and say I I don’t know what you want me to do with that or this again I mean I feel like

Again again I mean that’s what he does to teams I mean he he just baffles you with the ability that he has and here’s Josh kidy making a great decision dropping it off to SJ that was a little easier for sja variety set up by Josh

And this was a big time quarter by the Thunder they put up 40 points held the Celtics just 25 points in this Frame Josh gy had a large part to do with that with his assertiveness and confidence that he was playing with offensively yeah again we’re just seeing the ways

That Josh is learning how to play against these types of schemes teams are throwing at him three straight plays there you see kind of the total package from Josh porzingis sagging off of him goes to the rim then then he hits a three then he hits the back door cut to

Wiggins so many different guys getting involved and I I love that we’re seeing a little bit of everything from Josh Diddy here we saw him knock down a quarter three we see him hit a midi jumper we see him also hit Shake hild Alexander for a bucket under the rim

Just getting involved in a lot of different ways and the Thunder really started to break away here in this third quarter they would build up a really solid lead that would continue over into the fourth quarter a lead that Roy as we all know they would ultimately need down

The stretch absolutely but again huge credit to this group to start of the fourth quarter Jay will hit a big three there to start with but the defense that this group played Paris to was the biggest thing yeah they moved the ball me I think had five assists in this game

And he was doing a great job but the defense that this group played it was so disrupted they made the Celtics play in traffic and that was as much about anything that this group did was just the way that they defended for basically a 5minute stretch it just seemed like it

Was hustle play after hustle play for this group whether it was fighting for a rebound or just getting a hand on a loose ball getting out in the open floor that’s what this group did to start to separate themselves from Boston but this is where Boston started to try to climb

Back into this game just slowly chipping away at that Thunder lead Chad just keeping them at Arms Reach with a couple of Big Time threes in this fourth quarter a huge shot there from Chad but again you can just see the just kind of the desperation that the Celtics played

With on this they were throwing bodies around crashing the offensive glass like crazy and you know this a huge tip in from l i mean these little detail plays you forget about them throughout the game but if L dor doesn’t tip that thing in the Thunder play don’t win this game

I mean another huge three from Chad hen and again I talked about The Experience level that you get here’s jdub isolating going right at Jason Tatum and hitting just his bread and butter and here comes dub right there yelling at the crowd and then the free throws from Giddy and SJ

To ice the game that type of experience against a great team like Boston again I said it I said it earlier said it again that stuff is really invaluable to get that type of stuff down the stretch in the game and how about the bench points too we talked about that

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“Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is a top 5 player in the NBA” – Tim Legler on Thunder beat Celtics 127-123