OKLAHOMA CITY — Add another contender to the Oklahoma City Thunder’s list of impressive recent achievements.
The Thunder built a big lead over Boston and resisted a late comeback attempt to beat the Celtics, owners of the NBA’s best record, 127-123 on Tuesday.
Oklahoma City has won eight of its last nine games, putting the Thunder in second place in the Western Conference with a 23-9 record. That span has included wins over elite competition, including the first-place teams in both conferences (the Minnesota Timberwolves and Celtics) and the defending champion Denver Nuggets, whom Oklahoma City beat twice on the road.
“They’re a young, talented team, and I don’t think it was a fluke game for them,” Celtics center Kristaps Porzingis said after his 34-point, 10-rebound performance wasn’t enough to keep Boston from will end his streak of six consecutive victories. being broken. “They’ve been playing very well. They’re at the top of the West, right? So it’s a very good team to play against and a very good experience for us.”
The Thunder’s five-game winning streak includes a 23-point home rout of the Timberwolves and a 26-point road rout of the Nuggets. Oklahoma City appeared to be on the verge of another lopsided victory over the Celtics, leading by 18 with 8:25 left in the fourth quarter.
Oklahoma City, which has the second-youngest roster in the NBA, is making a case for being considered a contender, following a 14-win improvement last season to 40-42. The Thunder have the fourth best record in the league, ranking third in net rating (plus-8.5), fourth in defensive rating (110.7) and fifth in offensive rating (119.2).
The Thunder, however, have no interest in discussing whether they already belong in the contender conversation.
“It says we’re really playing together and we’re prioritizing winning over anything else,” Rookie of the Year favorite Chet Holmgren said of the Thunder’s strong run after his contribution of 14 points, 7 assists and 4 blocks. Tuesday. “But as far as the long term goes, I guess you could say he doesn’t really prove anything, or satisfy anyone.
“We know we have a long way to go. We’re 32 games into the season, so we still have 50 games left. We have a lot of lessons to learn, a lot of lessons we’ve already learned from.” “We have to keep it in the back of our minds.”
Oklahoma City superstar Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, the league’s third-leading scorer, had another spectacular performance with 36 points on 14-of-22 shooting. However, his only points in the fourth quarter came on some free throws as the Celtics cut the lead, making it a one-possession game in the final minute.
Gilgeous-Alexander’s biggest plays down the stretch were feeding center Holmgren for a 3-pointer with 2:06 left and setting a screen to free up forward Jalen Williams for a floater with 26 seconds left.
“He’s learned how to impact the game in other ways and that’s why he’s a really good player,” Thunder coach Mark Daigneault said of Gilgeous-Alexander, who also had six rebounds and seven assists. “He’s not just a scorer for hire.”
Daigneault referred to the game’s final minutes as “sloppy” for the Thunder, a description echoed by some Oklahoma City players. They also expressed their belief that having to fight down the stretch to achieve victory over the Celtics presented some of the lessons Holmgren was referring to.
“I think we all stayed in the moment and I think that’s why we’ve been able to improve,” Gilgeous-Alexander said. “We just stay in the moment, attack the day, attack the program in front of us. So we all have the right intentions and want to win at the end of the day.”
