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Player grades: Thunder see win streak end in 119-109 loss to Celtics

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Catching Cason Wallace in a jail dribble, Jaylen Brown stepped through his way to flick up a floater that went in. Afterward, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander committed a rare turnover as Jayson Tatum intercepted his daring cross-court pass. The two-play sequence in the final seconds ended this one.

The Oklahoma City Thunder couldn't come up in the big-time moments with a 119-109 loss to the Boston Celtics. That snapped their 12-game win streak and lost some of their cushion for the first seed.

The heavyweight matchup lived up to the hype. Both teams being mostly healthy, you saw the last two NBA champions go at it in a game that national TV executives wish they had. With their championship lineup, the Thunder were ready from the jump.

Lu Dort made a couple of outside jumpers. Gilgeous-Alexander sunk an elbow jumper. The Thunder quickly built a double-digit lead. They had a 31-20 lead after the first quarter. Quite the strong start against the Celtics. Alas, any goodwill created quickly melted.

Without Gilgeous-Alexander, the Thunder saw their offense fall apart. None of the secondary creators could get going. Meanwhile, Brown and Tatum helped Boston get back into it. They scored 11 consecutive points in the final moments of the first half.

The Thunder only had 22 points in the second quarter. They entered halftime with a 53-49 lead. In a marquee matchup, you saw some of OKC's bad habits bubble up — the role players couldn't hit their open shots. The Celtics dared the supporting cast to beat them. They won that bet.

After the break, both teams went back and forth. Neither could create any real separation. After chipping away in the middle quarters, Brown hit Alex Caruso with a spin move and threw down a one-handed jam. Momentum began to swing towards the home squad as OKC's lead was down to two points with four minutes left in the third frame.

The Thunder couldn't correct things. They had 30 points in the third frame, but the Celtics scored 39 points. That put OKC in an 88-83 hole. After being sharp at the start, their defense dulled out as the game progressed. Boston figured some things out — also helps that the role players hit on their outside jumpers.

Looking for a spark, the Thunder didn't get one from anybody else. Jalen Williams was pretty forgettable. Same for Chet Holmgren. Meanwhile, the Celtics had contributions from across the board. Baylor Scheierman was the latest as a second-chance dunk put OKC in a 100-92 deficit with a little under eight minutes left.

Needing to go on a run, the Thunder never manufactured one — something you've seldom seen with this group in all of their years together. The Celtics had no problem exchanging buckets as long as the clock bled. Brown was able to get Gilgeous-Alexander on a few foul-baiting moves. One had him smiling with irony, considering his recent comments about the activity.

The Thunder tried to extend things, but they couldn't take advantage of the gravity Gilgeous-Alexander demanded. Anytime the ball sprayed out to the perimeter, most outside attempts ended up in a miss. They had 26 points in the fourth quarter as the Celtics stiff-armed them in one of their biggest games of the year.

The Thunder shot 48% from the field and went 12-of-37 (32.4%) from 3. They shot 21-of-26 on free throws. They had 17 assists on 38 baskets. Three Thunder players scored double-digit points.

Gilgeous-Alexander led the way with 33 points and eight assists. Dort had 14 points and five rebounds. Holmgren finished with 10 points and five rebounds.

Meanwhile, the Celtics shot 47% from the field and went 18-of-41 (43.9%) from 3. They shot 25-of-29 on free throws. They had 25 assists on 38 baskets. Six Celtics players scored double-digit points.

Brown led the way with 31 points, eight assists and eight rebounds. Tatum had 19 points, 12 rebounds and seven assists. Derrick White had 12 points and six assists. Payton Pritchard scored 14 points. Scheierman tallied 11 points and five rebounds. Neemias Queta dropped 13 points and five rebounds.

Like that, the streak is over. Gilgeous-Alexander did enough to secure the win, but the rest of the Thunder failed to show up. Can't get away with that against the Celtics — especially when their outside shots fall at a high clip. The offense never looked comfortable in the final three-fourths of the game. And the defense eventually looked human as the game aged.

In a vacuum, not the worst loss ever. The Celtics are a top-five team in the league. Beating them in Boston was a tall task. But when you throw in the San Antonio Spurs breathing down your neck for the first seed, your margin for error thins out to nearly nothing. We're in an arms race for the first seed. And OKC is the latest one to finally blink.

Let's look at Thunder player grades:

Shai Gilgeous-Alexander: A-plus

Getting the switch on Pritchard, Gilgeous-Alexander went into attack mode. He lowered his shoulders and drove baseline. His pull-up jumper rattled in. The reigning MVP tried his best to play Superman, but the rest of the Thunder couldn't help him out.

Gilgeous-Alexander finished with 33 points on 10-of-12 shooting, eight assists and two rebounds. He shot 3-of-4 from 3 and went 10-of-12 on free throws. He also had two steals.

In a game where the rest no-showed, Gilgeous-Alexander was the sole difference between this being a competitive game and a blowout loss. He was once again the best player on the floor as Brown tries to stay in the MVP conversation. Playing at half-speed over the last handful of wins, he went all out in this one.

Limiting his drives, Gilgeous-Alexander buried the Celtics with his mid-range jumper. He got to his favorite spots as that was the shot the Celtics conceded. It was also a busy night at the free-throw line. Still didn't really matter a whole ton. He put up a superb-efficient 30-plus points against one of the best defenses that spent all day game-planning for him.

Reading the room, Gilgeous-Alexander turned up his usage. He had 21 points in the second half. Sadly, nobody else joined him. Can't beat one of the best teams one-on-five. The rest of the Thunder bailed the Celtics out by missing several gimmes. That eventually reflected on the scoreboard.

One of those games where Gilgeous-Alexander did enough to secure the win. But nobody else did. Leaves you feeling frustrated. It's nearly impossible to poke any holes in OKC's roster, but they occasionally lay an egg like this. A bad outside shooting performance shows that it might be the variable that hurts the Thunder the most in these primetime games.

Lu Dort: B

Backpedaling on defense, Dort chased Sam Hauser down. The Boston role player's layup attempt was swatted away. On the other end, the OKC starter knocked down a couple of outside jumpers to get things going. This was a vintage 'Big Game Lu' outing.

Dort finished with 14 points on 5-of-9 shooting and five rebounds. He shot 4-of-6 from 3. He also had one block.

The lone sans-Gilgeous-Alexander bright spot. You could argue that Dort was the only other guy on the Thunder who played well enough to get the win. Being ice-cold from deep for a month now, the outside jumper finally fell for him. Boston dared him to make the looks. And to his credit, he did.

The defense was whatever. It hasn't been as sharp as previous years, but you can't really blame Dort too much for Brown going off. He's had a career season as an MVP candidate. The rest of the team didn't make up for it, either. Just a bad defensive night for the Thunder.

It's been a minute since Dort was a positive on that end of the floor. No such thing as moral victories at this stage of the regular season, but he's long due for a hot stretch from the outside. If the Thunder insist on giving him starter minutes, knocking down his outside jumpers on a decent clip could go a long way.

Chet Holmgren: D

Stationed in the right corner spot, Holmgren swished in the outside look. The Thunder hoped that would rev up his scoring motor. Instead, that turned out to be his last shot attempt of the night with seven minutes left in the third quarter. Not good.

Holmgren finished with 10 points on 3-of-7 shooting, three rebounds and three assists. He shot 0-of-3 from 3 and went 3-of-4 on free throws.

Just not enough from Holmgren. On both ends. Holmgren has done a much better job at sulking through these lows, but he still has them now and then. Probably bad timing to do it against the Celtics, though. They sliced through OKC's league-best defense. That included going to the rim.

On the other end, Holmgren was just too passive. Only 10 points won't cut it when Gilgeous-Alexander is desperately looking for help. Considering it's his second game back from a hamstring strain, Jalen Williams gets a bit of a pass. But OKC's other All-Star this year? Tough to look the other way.

The Thunder won't win a ton of high-leverage games when their other All-Star is outplayed by several Boston role players. Most nights, the inconsistent offense is stomachable thanks to his elite rim protection. But that didn't happen. A bad game overall, where the seven-footer was too invisible. Shouldn't happen.

Alex Caruso: D

Hoping to cut OKC's deficit to three points with a minute left, Caruso had his most costly miss. The 32-year-old couldn't knock down the corner attempt. Queta's closeout affected the outside look enough. Brutal for the Thunder as it ended their late-game ambitions.

Caruso finished with nine points on 3-of-11 shooting, four rebounds and two assists. He shot 1-of-8 from 3 and went 2-of-2 on free throws. He also had one steal.

Serving as a mid-term, the Celtics showed the Thunder what their final test will look like — a lot of sagging off on the Thunder role players. They dared Caruso to beat them from the outside. Boston syphoned OKC's possessions to him. Giving up several open looks. A bundle of clanks justified the bold strategy.

Welcome to what the 2026 NBA playoffs will look like. In his worst outside shooting season ever, he's below 30% from deep. You could get away with that in the regular season, but this pseudo-playoff environment showed how opposing teams will likely strategize to beat the Thunder.

Against another title contender, Caruso couldn't swish in open looks. Neither could anybody else besides Dort, really. Don't mean to single out the two-time NBA champion. With the playoffs around the corner, the Thunder is staring down the possibility of having another run with unreliable outside shooters. It didn't matter last year. But it doesn't feel like a sustainable winning formula, either.

Highlights:

This article originally appeared on OKC Thunder Wire: Player grades: Thunder see win streak end in 119-109 loss to Celtics

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