Oklahoma City Thunder – Boston Celtics certainly looks like the dream 2025 NBA Finale

From Michael PinaMarch 13, 1:06 p.m. UTC • 4 min

It is rarely advisable to spend concrete statements after a single night of the regular season, but anyone who has seen the potential NBA final of Wednesday between the Boston Celtics and Oklahoma City Thunder can certainly call it one of the best games of the year. Even without Jalen Williams, Alex Caruso and Kristaps Porzingis, the exhibited action competed with what usually happens in a playoff game at a high level. Pretty much everyone involved had awareness of the moment, there was a merciless shot at both ends and complex defense systems were improved by speed, effort and physicality.

The thunder won, which is undoubtedly impressive, especially since they were on the road and their all-star wing were absent. But when we came in, we already knew how resilient and clever they are. With 10 lead changes and Boston misfires on a number of open 3s, the result is less important for itself than the way it was materialized.

Shai Gilgeous-Alexander scored a game of 34 points against a swarm of elite-on-ball defenders who covered him directly, and in a matchup zone, which essentially acted as a soft double team, and looked like the first-class MVP candidate that he was in recent years. There is not much what you can say about this guy. His pace is scary. He let Jaylen Brown’s knee shake more than once. He attacked the edge when Boston did not pack the color, and he climbed to his places and vacation in the mid -tone stand on the free -wing line.

Chet Holmgren was often a problem in which Boston shone in the middle in the middle in a starting line -up that OKC had not previously used. Lu there, who appeared in Williams’ absence, was a defensive irritation that repeatedly punished Boston in the first half.

On the other hand, Jayson held more than himself and ended with 33 points, eight rebounds and eight assists. Meanwhile, Brown forgot how to carry out his countless physical advantages, dirty half of the fourth quarter, missed all five of his 3 Series and tried not a single free throw

The Celtics missed six 3s than the thunder even Attempt And went 5-against-27 in the second half after using an NBA record 36 3S in the first two quarters. This is … not what you want. It is a frustrating brand of basketball and sometimes difficult to observe, but it does not register as an occasion for concern in the great scheme of the status of the Celtics as a real championship candidate, if not as the favorite of the East to achieve the final. Most of the Celtics looks were in a favorable offensive flow against a starved defense that was not successful to turn them around. If Payton Pritchard, Jrue Holiday or Brown had made a few of their wide -open looks, there is a decent chance that Boston would have won the game. If these two teams meet in June, the Celtics will not think back to this slug festival from March and believe that they have to choose it from the city center. If at all, they continue to lean on. It is who they are and why they are great.

At the other end, Boston probably doesn’t have to change a large part of his defense strategy against SGA. The Celtics changed the reporting, disguised some double teams and hoped for a short distance that the 38-year-old Al Horford (who was very good, minus some hardening passes) could hold on to an island. The thunder reacted with precision and intention to almost everyone. Most of the time, SGA found open teammates when Boston’s pressure forced him to get out of the ball.

And sometimes the Celtics simply made a mistake on the reason for attack. The Thunder does not use every time you happen -it is the reason why some people (definitely not me!) The ability of this team to win four playoff rounds -but they have punished the Celtics more than once. Here Brown stays on SGA instead of changing the screen what it should do. Derrick White discovers the error immediately and begins his rotation to Isaiah Joe before the ball leaves the fingertips of Gilgeous-Alexander. Instead of getting out to cover white in the Wewside corner, Brown Sgas Pass follows, and Boston gives up a wide open corner 3:

Both teams left a strategic meat on the bone, but the decisions of the loss team were actually more interesting. If we get a Thunder-Celtics matchup this spring, you can expect Gilgeous-Alexander’s man to be much more active when it comes to relying on the ball screens on Tatum and Brown. The thunder can be countered with a zone – which you spent a lot of time on Wednesday evening – but Boston wouldn’t have difficult to crack him, especially with a healthy porcingis on the floor.

As long as the Denver Nuggets and Cleveland Cavaliers still exist, it is early to say that the thunder and the Celtics are on a collision course. But as we knew before the start of the last night, these two teams are endlessly versatile, are hell deep and are trusted with the trust that it takes to win a championship. There are very few, if at all, holes that you can choose, and both teams enable very little border for errors. They are so balanced and similarly constructed that it is difficult to choose a favorite. But from where we sit today when Celtics and Thunder meet in the final, people who love basketball can be as an obvious winner.

Michael Pina

Michael Pina is a manager of the wrestler who covers the NBA.