Celtics drop one against OKC. Still in prime playoff position

I’m Greenie, and I’m here to talk some Celtics. But enough about me. Let’s take a look at what we learned last night after seeing our five game win streak come to an end….

Coming into Game 67, the Celtics were playing some of the best basketball of their season. Efficient on offense, stingy on defense, they were running through teams and started to close the gap on the 7/8 seed in the East. OKC on the other hand had been playing relatively inconsistent while in their own battle for the 8 seed in the West. Initially things looked good as both Ibaka and Durant would be missing this game, so luck was on the Celts side.

The first quarter started pretty well for both teams. While often during the Celts 5 game win streak they struggled in the opening quarter, last night they played inside out and shot an astounding 60%. They were led by big man Tyler Zeller who would go 4-4 in the quarter, and continue his ridiculous shooting. This would be the third game in a row he would have an opening quarter such as this, and is really starting to show the promise Trader Danny hoped he would. You would think that with such great offense the Celts blew the door open….only the exact opposite happened. When you combine 6 turnovers with giving up 52% shooting, that is never ideal. The Celtics for the most part were able to contain Westbrook, but could not stop Ernes Kanter. Since coming to OKC from Utah Kanter has been an absolute stud, and you can see why. His 8 points and 5 rebounds in the opening quarter would in a way dictate how the rest of this game would go. After one, OKC led 28-24.

The second quarter would be about one thing and one thing only. Marcus fucking Smart. A return back to his old stomping grounds clearly had the guy motivated, and he went to another level in this quarter. Let’s look at the line:

5-6FGA (4-5 from 3) 3Reb 2AST 14Pts

The Celtics would shoot a ridiculous 68% in the quarter (7-10 from 3!) and it appeared that they had all the momentum. But, as we would continue to see, turnovers would be the achilles heal and the Celts committed 6 more this quarter. What was frustrating about these turnovers was how they were happening. Just LAZY lazy passing giving Westbrook wide open break aways that are simply terrifying. Westbrook would wake up a bit more in this quarter with a solid 6 points, but the damage was done by the second units.

This brings me to Phil Pressey. Now, everyone knows he is just buying time until Isaiah gets back, and he had been a crucial piece of this current streak, but man this was maybe the worst I have ever seen him play. He did not make a shot, kept shooting, and kept turning the ball over. More importantly, his negative plays were momentum killers and what should have been a wider margin, the Celtics entered the half up just 57-53.

Overall, if you had told me the Celtics would have a lead in OKC at the half I would have been pretty happy. But I found myself angry that despite shooting 64% in a HALF, OKC felt more in control.

In the third, we saw that control. Whatever happened in that locker room, someone woke up Westbrook. It is no secret that he is an aggressive scorer who makes his living getting into the paint, but in this quarter he was without a doubt getting the Lebron treatment. With every drive came a yell, and a whistle. Textbook Stern type officiating that Lebron made cool throughout his years in Miami. Westbrook alone would end up shooting more FTs this quarter than the entire Celtics team. That’s a problem. Between his 15 points and Kanter’s 10, the Celtics just did not have the offensive firepower to match. They would shoot just 37% in the quarter, and relied way to much on jump shots that just were not falling. To make matters worse, the Celtics were giving the game away at the FT line (this is important).  All that previous hard work in the first half would be for nothing, as OKC would drop a 40 spot on the Celts, and would take a 93-81 lead into the final frame.

Now missing their best 4th quarter scorer, don’t hate yourself if you felt like the Celtics had lost this game before the fourth even started. They have shown throughout the season not to be trusted in these final 12 minutes, but there is one thing you could be absolutely certain of and that is they would not go down without a legit fight. Again they would hold Westbrook to just 1-8 shooting, but shocker, there was that Lebron treatment. He would go a perfect 8-8 from the line, and still all was not lost. See the Celtics despite missing Thomas would actually show up in this quarter, staying relatively close due to the deep ball. Kelly had a couple, Marcus had a couple, but really this game was lost with their inability to hit a god damn FT. They would miss SIX more this quarter, and when you do that my friends, you deserve to lose. After a couple of runs by both teams the Celts would make it interesting down the stretch, but unfortunately would fall 122-118. They would shoot 17-28 from the FT line, and would finish with 20 turnovers. There is your ballgame.

Alas, there is good news. Indiana also lost, which means frankly this game is meaningless. As of today, the Celtics are still in the playoffs, and just 1 game out of the 7th seed, and 3 games in the loss column of the 6th seed Bucks who have lost 4 in a row. Yes, that’s right, I am seeing a 6th seed in their future.

Next up comes a date with Timmy Duncan in Texas, and if we can manage a split on this road trip I will take that every day of the week.

Go Celtics.