Celtics can't keep pace with Thunder as OKC sweeps season series with 118-112 win

BOSTON — For the second time in five days, TD Garden played host to a potential NBA Finals preview Wednesday night.

This one ended in disappointment for the defending champs.

The Western Conference-leading Oklahoma City defeated the Celtics, 118-112, sweeping the two-game season series between the two championship hopefuls. The loss snapped a five-game win streak for Boston that included victories over two other West contenders (Denver Nuggets and Los Angeles Lakers).

NBA MVP front-runner Shai Gilgeous-Alexander led all scorers with 34 points on 11-of-20 shooting, and OKC got a 23-point, 15-rebound double-double from Chet Holmgren against a Celtics defense that was missing top center Kristaps Porzingis, who missed his seventh straight game with an illness.

Jayson Tatum finished with 33 points, eight rebounds and eight assists in a losing effort. Derrick White (22 points, eight rebounds, five assists, three blocks, two steals) and Al Horford (18 points, 10 rebounds, six assists, two blocks, one steal) delivered strong complementary performances, each going 6 for 12 from 3-point range.

Jaylen Brown, though, struggled for Boston, scoring 10 points on 5-of-15 shooting in 38 minutes before fouling out in the fourth quarter. The Thunder attempted 35 foul shots in the game to the Celtics’ 12.

Their seven-game homestand now complete, the Celtics will visit the Miami Heat this Friday night.

The Celtics’ offense managed just 27 points in the second half of its loss at OKC, and it was late to arrive in the rematch. They missed their first five shots and fell behind 9-0, triggering an early timeout from head coach Joe Mazzulla.

Boston settled in after the stoppage and hit 3-pointers on four straight possessions — two by Horford and two by White. Each added another 3 later in the quarter as the veteran duo teamed up to score the Celtics’ first 19 points of the game. Horford and White also combined for three blocks, a steal and two offensive rebounds in an active opening quarter for both players.

The Celtics also got first-quarter triples from Tatum (two) and Payton Pritchard (one) and trailed 33-30 entering the second. Sound like an unusually high number of 3s, even for a team that’s been on pace to attempt and make more than any team in NBA history this season? That’s because it was.

Of the 24 field goals the Celtics attempted in the first quarter, a whopping 22 were from 3-point range. They scored 30 points off 3-pointers, three off free throws and zero from shorts inside the arc. Boston didn’t make its first 2-pointer until Pritchard drove for a layup more than 16 minutes into the game.

It was just the third time in league history that a team scored at least 30 points in a quarter without a single made 2.

The disparity was not as stark in the second quarter, but Boston still attempted another 14 3s in the frame and converted six, including back-to-back makes by Tatum late in the half. At halftime, Tatum and Horford both were 4 for 7 from 3, and White was 5 for 8. The Celtics’ 36 first-half 3-point attempts set an NBA record.

While the Celtics were bombing 3s, the Thunder were feasting inside against their Porzingis-less defense. OKC scored 30 points in the paint in the first half on 15-for-21 shooting from that zone, including 9 for 11 on shots at the rim. Gilgeous-Alexander and Holmgren combined for 30 first-half points despite making just one 3 between them. Both players also drew questionable fouls beneath the basket late in the half, the second of which earned Tatum a technical foul for arguing.

A buzzer-beating bank shot from Gilgeous-Alexander gave the Thunder a 63-60 halftime lead.

OKC’s lead swelled to 12 points early in the third — with Gilgeous-Alexander and Holmgren expanding their range by hitting two 3s apiece — at sat at 84-75 with just under four minutes to play in the quarter. The Celtics then staged a 13-4 run to tie the game at 88-88 heading into the fourth.

Backup center Luke Kornet was a difference-maker during that rally, notching a block, an offensive rebound and a dunk off a slick feed from Tatum. He also outleaped Isaiah Hartenstein to secure a clutch defensive board and draw a foul. Sam Hauser also hit a corner 3-pointer to pull Boston within three, and Tatum weaved through the paint for an and-one finger-roll layup — off back-to-back offensive rebounds — that knotted the score with 16.1 seconds left in the quarter. “MVP” chants rained down as he stepped to the free-throw line.

In a sharp inversion from the first half, the Celtics scored 22 of their 28 third-quarter points on 2-pointers and free throws, going 2 for 13 from 3-point range but a perfect 8 for 8 on shots in the paint.

White sparked the Celtics early in the fourth quarter when he blocked a shot from 7-foot-1 Holmgren at one end and then drilled a corner 3 at the other. Horford hit another 3 on the next Boston possession. But OKC controlled the game from that point on.

The Celtics went scoreless for more than three minutes, and Brown, who struggled through one of his shakiest outings of the season, picked up his fourth, fifth and sixth fouls while guarding Gilgeous-Alexander, fouling out for the first time this season. White later fouled out, as well.

A Cason Wallace 3-pointer put the Thunder up nine with 2:21 remaining, and Gilgeous-Alexander provided the dagger with a stepback jumper with 61 seconds to play.