INSTANT REACTION: Celtics’ 3rd quarter woes led to loss in OKC

INSTANT REACTION: Celtics’ 3rd quarter woes led to loss in OKC

Welcome in Celtics postgame live Eddie House Amina Smith here with you in a heavyweight battle between the OKC Thunder and the Boston Celtics however OKC getting the best of Boston winning this one 127 to 123 Eddie a back and forth match up two of the top teams in

The NBA what made the difference tonight I thought SGA did uh just was unguardable you know he was able to get to his spots get there when he wanted to and um it was a good game I mean you can see both teams are really talented on

The offensive side of the ball they could get after you defensively I thought there were some big shots Chad homr made down there in the stretch some thre so they made the plays that they needed to make um to win this game um no no slight to anything that the Celtics

Did they tried what they they they mounted a comeback they just was a little short and it’s like that sometimes you know you you take your lunch you take your lick and you move on to the next game but this OKC team is for Real definitely for real Shay Gil

Alexander with 36 points in this win let’s take a look at how things went down in that third quarter where OKC really they blew the doors open this presented by the Massachusetts health Connector it’s open enrollment at the Massachusetts health Connector act now and stay covered at Ma Health

Connector.org they outscored the Celtics 40-25 also 11 assists to the Celtics 7 and the Celtics with two turnovers in that third quarter that was the most points allowed by the Celtics in the third quarter this season Eddie usually after the game we’re here talking about how well the Celtics played in the third

Quarter what happened tonight I I don’t you know it’s one of those weird games man the the other team making shots uh you especially that third quarter it was like we were step late on rotation you see how easy uh guys would get to the basket right here

And getting those layups and just no contest uh hand down and the shot go up without the contest and getting into the paint so I mean you got to give credit to OKC they came out I knew they would play with a lot of energy third quarter

Always has been like our our turning point right are we going to be that team that plays well in the third quarter are we going to come out and kind of sleep walk into the third quarter and a team like OKC you can’t play around with them

They got they’re too talented they got a lot of guys out there that can score and they understand how to play the game and they play well together so that third quarter was uh crucial but still had opportunities to win but they got to look back at that third quarter and say

That’s probably the the one that cost them all right let’s bring in Scout and Drew Carter who are live court side and scall I heard you talking about the coaching matchup during the broadcast why was it such a highlevel type of game out there not only coaching wise but on

The court as well because we weren’t going to win this game just coming out saying all right let’s just lace them up roll them out there because we got more Talent than them I know we do have more talent but on ton this night Oklahoma City they were cracking us off the

Dribble we couldn’t keep guys in front of us Joe maou was going to have to work today he was going to have to earn that check today because he was have to going to have he was going to have to find a way to figure out a weakness of Oklahoma

City or exploit Chad homr being on the perimeter or crash the glass or or get Jason Tatum in positions where where he can Dominate and we can have solid spacing where we don’t give up end up giving up a layup on the other end of the floor so and dagal did the same

Thing refused to set screens and slipping out of screen and driving right off of that it was a high level coaching battle today both those guys from New England for what it’s worth dagnal from lemonster Mass and Missoula is from Rhode Island dagnal grew up a big uh

Celtics fan as Abby was talking about and it was a lot of fun I mean there was so much talent on the floor and two great coaches also give Missoula credit for keeping pton prit on the floor down the stretch too you mentioned that during the yeah I thought I thought I

Mean you got Drew holiday you got Al Horford and I really thought that pton Richard’s defense’s energy was going to make a difference and he went with him and I I just thought like that’s not an easy thing to do when you’re sitting a future Hall of Famer in Drew holiday and

Maybe and same thing with Al Horford to go with pton Pritchard he wasn’t like burning it up today but I thought he made a big difference and I looked at really what I’m I’m excited about and hope I could see some carryovers what Jason Tatum did

In that fourth quarter to SGA I know SGA bought out you’re going to look up you’re going to see 36 points you’re going to see the efficiency but for the most part in that fourth quarter when Jason Tatum said hey I’m going to take this challenge he kept him out of the

Paint he made him make passes he controlled and dictated exactly where he wanted SGA to go SGA was going wherever he wanted to all single night so to me I think the silver lining in this loss and you can always learn from a win but I

Think the Silver Line in his Lo loss is hey Jason T you see you could turn it up and he could do things like that I remember there was a um I was in a series when I was with Miami and LeBron guard D Rose in the fourth quarter he

Didn’t guard him the whole game but in the fourth quarter he attacked him in the fourth quarter made it extremely tough on D Rose and that I could see that that could be part of Jason Tatum’s identity defensive identity maybe moving forward and say Hey you know I’m going

Guard other guys but in the fourth quarter whoever that guy is he shows his versatility today cuz I mean SGA is a tough guard scal go ahead scal I was just going to say like people don’t know this like just like you can have offensive Tendencies you like to drive

Left you pull up whatever you can also have defensive Tendencies and it did seem like to me like what Eddie’s saying Tatum would play with his hands up so when when you saw Drew holiday on him he was squeaking by and he was thring those layups but with Tatum he was gapping

Them and I felt like it threw SGA off a little bit so you could have good matchups at certain times so I wonder when we play this team again if Jason Tatum says you know what Drew why don’t you guard Chad and I’ll guard SGA you know because typically on paper Drew was

Supposed to be our best defender but no disrespect to Drew tonight but he couldn’t keep him in front he would body him up and and and SGA would just slip right by and get a layup so I just really thought the matchup of ha him with his big size and keeping that Gap

Was really hard for SGA so I’m really now I’m already looking forward to this next match up when they when they play again and Scout I’m I’m glad that you mentioned that cuz now that you’ve seen OKC up close and personal how legit are they as contenders and knowing that Drew

You kind of teased that also in the pregame show that it could be an NBA Finals preview n they don’t got it sorry they’re they’re good they’re good okay but they just don’t have enough size they just don’t have enough size in the playoffs you can start moving guys

Around I’m I’m sorry I would I like the team I love the way they play I love that they drive they just don’t have enough size here’s the thing though guys with Oklahoma City we’ve talked about Sam presty we know that he’s got more first round picks than anybody they have

A ton of young dudes I mean I’m I’m building my board for today I’m like all these dudes are 25 or younger they have a move they can make if they want to go for it this year they I can tell you it’s Miles Turner that’s the move they

Need a guy like that guy can stretch it and block shots miles Turner’s been living in the trade machine for the last 5 years and he’s never left Indian all I’m saying it could be a guy like that but they need more siid that’s it ched

Is fine he’s not enough it’s not enough to win in the playoffs that you go against LeBron and AD LeBron that’s not going to work I’m not saying they’re the only team but you got to have more siid maybe some of the dudes that Celtics fans want the Celtics bring in like

Kelly oen could could he fit here in Oklahoma City maybe maybe got a lot of picks it would look it was enough size to beat the Celtics tonight all right thanks so much guys let’s take a break here on Celtics post game live another look at that final score 127 to 123

Coming up we hear from head coach Joe Missoula stay with us

Eddie House, Brian Scalabrine and Drew Carter join Amina Smith to offer instant reaction and analysis to the Celtics’ 123-127 loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder.

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