LOS ANGELES: Shai Gilgeous-Alexander scored 34 points as the Oklahoma City Thunder punched their ticket to the playoffs with an impressive 118-112 victory over the reigning champion Boston Celtics in a potential NBA Finals sneak preview on Wednesday.
Gilgeous-Alexander enhanced his credentials as favorite for the Most Valuable Player award with a superb performance to silence Boston’s TD Garden home crowd in an absorbing duel settled by a burst of fourth-quarter Thunder scoring.
The Canadian point guard shot 11-of-20 from the field to finish with five rebounds, seven assists and 34 points, including 10-of-11 from the free throw line.
The win lifted Western Conference leaders Oklahoma City to 54-12 and guaranteed their place in next month’s playoffs.
Wednesday’s win over a vastly more experienced Boston lineup marked another mature display from a Thunder side that is the youngest in the league.
Oklahoma City effectively sealed victory late in the fourth, pulling away to open up a double-digit lead with just under two minutes remaining after Cason Wallace nailed a superb 24-foot three-pointer followed by a driving reverse layup.
Gilgeous-Alexander said the Thunder’s defensive solidity amid a barrage of 63 attempted threes from Boston had provided the foundation for the win.
“We were able to get stops, and that’s been the trend for us recently,” he told ESPN.
“When you’re coming down the stretch against a good basketball team with good players, you’ve got to find a way, and we did so tonight and gave ourselves a chance.”
While Gilgeous-Alexander grabbed the scoring headlines, the towering Chet Holmgren caught the eye with a double-double of 23 points with 15 rebounds.
“We all know the player Chet Holmgren is,” Gilgeous-Alexander said of his 22-year-old teammate. “He’s a stud, and he’s going to be a stud for a very long time. He’ll continue to grow and continue to be special.”
Oklahoma City’s balanced offense meanwhile suggests that they are well-equipped to make a deep run in the postseason as they pursue the franchise’s first NBA title since 1979, when the club was the Seattle SuperSonics.
Despite missing Jaylin Williams from the lineup, the Thunder finished with seven players in double figures.
Boston’s scoring was led by Jayson Tatum with 33 points, while Derrick White had 22.
Jaylen Brown though had an off-night, shooting 5-of-15 from the field before fouling out in the fourth quarter with 3min 36 remaining.
Boston coach Joe Mazzulla said his team had failed to deal with Oklahoma City’s physicality.
“There were a lot of moments where we matched that and there were a few where we didn’t, and I think stuff like that’s the difference in the game,” he said.
In other games on Wednesday, the Phoenix Suns’ slipped further away from play-in contention after losing 111-104 to the Houston Rockets. The Suns are 11th in the West on 30-36 with the Dallas Mavericks 10th on 33-34. The Mavericks lost 126-116 in San Antonio.
The Memphis Grizzlies improved to 42-24 and are third in the West after downing the hapless Utah Jazz (15-51) 122-115.
In Denver, Nikola Jokic finished with 34 points but could not prevent the Nuggets crashing to a 115-95 defeat to the Minnesota Timberwolves, who romped to a wire-to-wire victory on the back of 29 points from Anthony Edwards and 25 points from Julius Randle.
