Oklahoma City Jan. 4 (U): The scorer is out in Oklahoma City, so everyone is involved to make things work.
Josh Geddy scored a season-high 25 points, and the shortstop Oklahoma City Thunder edged the leading Boston Celtics 150-117 on Tuesday night.
Shay Gilgos Alexander of Oklahoma City, who ranks among the league leaders with 30.8 points per game, has struggled with the illness. Without him, the Thunder scored a scoring record since the team moved to Oklahoma City from Seattle prior to the 2008-2009 season. The previous score was 149 points in 2013.
Lou Dort scored 23 points, and Jalen Williams, Trey Mann, and Isaiah Gou each added 21 points for the Thunder. They shot 59.2% from the field.
“I think we have great players and great people,” Mann said. “Guys who don’t really care who gets credit.”
The Thunder have never won more than 16 games and the Celtics have never lost more than 16 games this season. Oklahoma City coach Marc Denault said the score came from his team’s style.
“I told them after the game, I want them to realize what motivated them to move forward, which we had a great training yesterday, they entered the game with great concentration on both ends of the floor, what we had to do, and that allowed us to have fun tonight.” “We can’t lose sight of that.”
Oklahoma City took advantage of the fact that Robert Williams, one of Boston’s primary edge guards, was out of control on his injured left knee. The Thunder made 38 of 58 shots inside the 3-point line.
“You have to play with a sense of humility every night knowing your opponent wants to beat you,” Celtics coach Joe Mazzola said. “We had to match that, but we didn’t. We excelled in every aspect of the game.”
Jaylen Brown scored 29 points for Boston and Jason Tatum added 27 points.
The Thunder led 74-54 at halftime behind Joe’s 17 points on a 6-for-9. Oklahoma City shot 57% in the first half. The Celtics trailed even though Brown scored 18 points in the first half.
Going 10-0, Oklahoma City led 90-63 just three minutes into the second period, and the game wasn’t even close after that. The Thunder scored 48 points in the third quarter, the most ever for an Oklahoma City team in a quarter, and shot 67.9% in the third to take a 122-91 lead heading into the fourth.
Oklahoma City’s biggest lead was 37 points.
“Late in the second quarter, they kind of put their heads down, Boston did, and came up to the line and were trying to play through us and were just trying to get back in the game,” said DiNault. . “And we needed to stand there to stave it off. And I thought the guys did a really good job at that.”
Tip-ins
Celtics: Mazzola and J. Marcus Smart attended the Oklahoma State-Virginia game Tuesday in Stillwater and sat together. Smart played college ball for Oklahoma State and Mazzola played for West Virginia. Oklahoma State won, 67-60. … Smart called a technician in the second quarter and was ejected in the third quarter for reprimanding an official.
Thunder: Even the Oklahoma City fans were hitting shots from deep. Johnny Doruset, a 20-year-old from Muskogee, Oklahoma, shot midfield in the middle of First Bank during halftime to win $20,000. … F Aaron Wiggins scored 17 points.
at home
The Celtics were shot at the Oklahoma City facility where the Celtics F Blake Griffin AAU basketball program practices. Griffin is from Oklahoma City and played college ball at the University of Oklahoma.
Next
Celtics: In Dallas Thursday night.
Thunder: In Orlando on Wednesday night.
Rial