– by Adesina O. Koiki
A Lot of Sports Talk editor-in-chief
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BOSTON — Finally, the current core of the Boston Celtics, the group that has had the team perched atop the Eastern Conference for the past half decade, achieved an accomplishment that’s in common with the great teams that included the likes of Cousy, Russell, Bird, McHale, Parish, Pierce, Allen, and KG. Nope, a championship banner is not being hung from the TD Garden rafters, but it could soon happen if the Celtics add 16 more wins in the postseason to the now 60 wins — and counting — they’ve amassed after another dominating performance on their home floor.
Kristaps Porzingis was one of three Boston players to score 20 points, leading the way with 27 as Boston defeated the Oklahoma City Thunder 135-100 on Wednesday, the win giving it 60 on the season and clinching home-court advantage throughout the entire NBA Playoffs. Jayson Tatum had 24 points while Jaylen Brown added 23 for the Celtics, who have now won 60 games in a season for the first time since the “Big Three” teams of Pierce, Allen and Garnett won 66 and 62 games in back-to-back seasons in 2007-08 (the franchise’s last championship season) and 2008-09, respectively.
“It’s an honor, it’s a blessing to be on a 60-win team,” Brown said. “It’s a lot of hard work that went into that, especially after coming ujp short last season, responding, coming back and not skipping any steps. I think we’re on track, 60 wins, but when the playoffs start, it’s back to square one.”
When the playoffs start, the Celtics will be overwhelming favorites to be the Eastern Conference representative to make the NBA Finals, mainly because of what occurred soon after it fell at home, in Game 7, to the Miami Heat in the conference finals one year ago. Boston moved on from team legend and fan favorite Marcus Smart, talented big man Robert Williams, former NBA Sixth Man of the Year Malcom Brogdon and versatile forward Grant Williams, trading them in different deals that landed them Porzingis and Jrue Holiday, the point guard on the Milwaukee Bucks’ 2021 NBA championship team.
Any questions about whether the Celtics could pick up where they left off with a significantly-changed roster were quelled in early on when they won five straight to start the season, went 26-6 before the calendar turned to 2024, and stayed undefeated at home until four days after MLK Day. Most of their wins inside TD Garden this season were similar to the nature of tonight’s victory, a dominant display in which the team went up by 14 at halftime, maintained a double-digit lead heading into the fourth before outscoring the shorthanded Thunder 42-17 in the fourth.
Oklahoma City was playing without their top two leading scorers, as Shai Gilgeous-Alexander missed his fourth game in the last five with a bruised right quad and Jalen Williams missed his second consecutive game with a sprained left ankle. Six players scored in double figures for the Thunder, led by Josh Giddey’s 17 points. Oklahoma City held the lead in the game for a grand total of 62 seconds.
The defeat dropped the Thunder to 52-24 and into third place in the Western Conference, a full game behind both Denver and Minnesota for first place. Oklahoma City would win a three-way tiebreaker with the Nuggets and Timberwolves based on the best record amongst the three in head-to-head games against the other two, and would also win a tiebreaker against the Nuggets based on their 3-1 record against them. OKC would most likely lose a tiebreaker with Minnesota based on a projected inferior record against fellow Western Conference teams. (Minnesota and Oklahoma City split the season series at 2-2, and a loss by the Timberwolves against the Nuggets in Denver on April 10 would result in Minnesota and Oklahoma City having identical 12-4 records against the Northwest Division, the tiebreaker after head-to-head.)
*Editor’s note: Above the byline is the photo gallery from Wednesday evening’s game, with photos taken by ALOST staff photographer Erica Denhoff. After clicking on the first photo to enlarge the picture, make sure to press the left and right arrow buttons to scroll through the rest of the pictures. There are 44 pictures in total.
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