The Boston Celtics dropped an important game to the Oklahoma City Thunder on Wednesday, losing both games in the season series. In what was a potential NBA Finals preview, the Celtics seemed to fail the test.
The Celtics just couldn't muster up enough to take down the Thunder and now big questions remain about them moving forward. After the game, star forward Jayson Tatum was asked about the officiating in the game and reacted to it.
Tatum said that the refs weren't the reason why the Celtics lost the game.
Jayson Tatum on the refs:
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“That’s not why we lost, at all.”
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— Celtics on CLNS (@CelticsCLNS) March 13, 2025
Normally, players will take the easy way out and blame the refs in a game of this magnitude. But Tatum decided to go the other route and put the blame on the team.
Boston just didn't play a great game overall and the Thunder took advantage of that fact. The Celtics took 63 3-point shot attempts in the game, hitting only 20 of them.
The Thunder were able to contain the Celtics' offensive attack enough to make them uncomfortable from distance. Even with the 20 3-point shots, Boston still looked very out of sorts at different times in the game.
Oklahoma City used their length and defensive abilities to make life tough on Boston and it worked like a charm. Celtics center Al Horford was asked about the two matchups with the Thunder this year and offered some thoughts on the manner.
“I definitely liked our approach better tonight. I felt like we did a better job. Our spacing was better. I would have to say, ultimately — give them credit, they made you just a little more plays than us down the stretch.”
Last time the Celtics played OKC, Joe Mazzulla deemed spacing their biggest issue.
Asked Al how he’d compare the two games:
“I definitely liked our approach better tonight. I felt like we did a better job. Our spacing was better. I would have to say, ultimately — give them… pic.twitter.com/fdX7SvJUMm
— Noa Dalzell 🏀 (@NoaDalzell) March 13, 2025
All in all, it wasn't an awful game for the Celtics but one that they would love back. With it being against a tough team from the Western Conference, Boston understands that they could be seeing them again down the line.
If they were to meet the Thunder in the NBA Finals, it would be a very entertaining series for all basketball fans. Both teams are very good and could create one of the better matchups in recent memory.
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