Key Moment
The Thunder's collective eyes must have lit up when Boston announced that Robert Williams would miss Tuesday's game in Oklahoma City. Without Williams' shot-blocking presence, the Thunder saw an opening at the rim, and they sure did take advantage.
Oklahoma City set the tone early by attacking the basket over and over, which led to 16 points in the paint during the opening frame. It led by only one point heading into the second quarter, but it had already discovered its path to victory.
The Thunder continued to put pressure on the rim and wound up tallying 70 points in the paint on 64.8 percent shooting for the night. They had already scored 62 points in the paint by the time the third quarter ended. To put that into perspective, OKC averaged 55.4 points in the paint per game this season entering the contest.
The host team's ability to attack the basket and score at a high percentage led to a scoreboard tally the Celtics all never want to see again. Oklahoma City pulled ahead by as many as 37 on the night while cruising to a 150-117 victory.
Key Player
For the majority of this contest, Jaylen Brown was the only member of the Celtics who looked like himself. While his teammates struggled, he was nothing short of electric.
Brown played a beautiful, controlled game that led to a 29 points in the scoring column. He scored those points in only 25-plus minutes of playing time, as he did not play during the fourth quarter.
Brown shot an efficient 11-for-18 from the field, which included a 9-for-11 effort from inside the arc. He had the ball in his hands quite a bit, yet committed only one turnover. The rest of the starters combined for nine turnovers.
Box Score Nuggets
- Five Thunder players scored at least 21 points, led by 25 from Josh Giddey.
- Jaylen Brown led the game with 29 points.
- Jayson Tatum was right behind him with 27.
- Oklahoma City scored a whopping 70 points in the paint.
- The Thunder made 58 shots, while Boston made just 40.
- No player in the game grabbed more than seven rebounds.
- Payton Pritchard and Malcolm Brogdon each scored 17 points off of Boston's bench.
- Marcus Smart led all players with eight assists.
- OKC's offense shot 59.2 percent from the field and 50 percent from long distance.
- Isaiah Joe led all reserves with 21 points.
- The Thunder outscored Boston 21-9 in fast break points.
- Luguentz Dort, who scored 23 points, led the game in plus/minus rating at plus-31.
Quote of the Night
"You have to play with a sense of humility every night knowing that your opponent wants to beat you, and we have to match that, and we didn't, and we got outplayed in every aspect of the game."
- Joe Mazzulla on the mindset the Celtics need to take into every game