BOSTON — A ray of light shot across the Boston skyline Wednesday night. It formed a circle on the side of the Prudential Center, the city’s defining landmark, its giant message board often lit up to celebrate the city’s teams.
But in that circle was a pair of reflecting twos, the logo for Shai Gilgeous-Alexander. Converse, the Boston-based brand that’s home to his recently announced debut signature shoe, then projected the image right on the TD Garden, where the MVP candidate led the Oklahoma City Thunder to a 118-112 win over the Celtics.
As the MVP conversation oscillates back and forth, SGA added another bullet point to his resume. As always, he was the metronome that led a Thunder win in what will be the last potential NBA Finals preview between what were the top seeds in the Eastern and Western conferences entering Wednesday.
“The MVP conversation, it’s stuff you dream about as a kid,” Gilgeous-Alexander said. “It’s an honor to be a part of, super fun. Yeah, without my teammates it wouldn’t be possible. So I appreciate them putting me in this position and trusting me to lead this group in the way that I am.”
If he is going to beat out Nikola Jokić for the award, Gilgeous-Alexander and the Thunder have to be flawless. A big win in Boston was exactly what he needed for his case, but more importantly, it was what the Thunder needed as one last confirmation that they control their destiny.
“Yeah, it’s huge. Just because they’ve done what we’re trying to do, the games against them are always going to be heightened,” said Gilgeous-Alexander, who finished with 34 points on 11-of-20 shooting. “They’re always going to be a little bit more exciting. They achieved what we’re trying to accomplish, and there’s no better test than them here. You play for late June, and the other team won late June, so playing against them is always fun.”
The Celtics saw something familiar Wednesday evening. Though the Thunder players were wearing their combination of white, blue and orange, it was as if the Celtics were looking into the past.
The Thunder’s defensive tenacity and acuity were overwhelming. Not to the point that Boston looked hapless. But enough that the Celtics couldn’t seize control. Few teams, on few nights, can do that to the defending champs when they are for real.
The Celtics were without Kristaps Porziņģis, but they’re used to that. It’s been a part of their reality since the team was overhauled before last season. So when the Celtics win without him, it’s kind of what they’re supposed to do. But the Thunder were without Jalen Williams, their second-best offensive creator. They do not have the experience to be a team that is supposed to win without him.
And yet, it was hard to notice they were missing an All-Star. Credit to Chet Holmgren.
“We’re going to see him get more and more comfortable as the games go on, but he was special. He was aggressive from the get,” Gilgeous-Alexander said. “He just played his game, and he let the game come to him and that’s who Chet Holmgren is.”
Unreal, indeed 🔥 https://t.co/rSiHIVvKbN pic.twitter.com/juVuhJhJHx
— OKC THUNDER (@okcthunder) March 13, 2025
This performance was a window into the versatility that makes the Thunder so unstoppable. It’s a different flavor of the same principle that made the Celtics the best team in the league a year ago. Oklahoma City is malleable to the point that injuries have hardly registered as speed bumps to what is currently the second-highest net rating in NBA history.
As crucial as Gilgeous-Alexander is to the Thunder, they won this game because of what they did when he was on the bench. Coach Mark Daigneault went to a 2-3 zone with Isaiah Hartenstein and Holmgren taking aggressive positions away from the back line. Hartenstein would often be on the strong side of the action, then Holmgren would swoop in from the weak side to slow down any cross-court action the Celtics tried to execute.
“They recover fast,” Jaylen Brown said. “Even their guys that you would think that you can attack put up a good fight and use physicality, so you gotta give credit to OKC. They’re well coached, they’re connected on defense, so you gotta play.”
Boston rarely was able to create the advantages off kickout passes that usually get them wide-open 3s, with most of them coming off their 15 offensive rebounds.
The Thunder defined the early stages of the game with their pinpoint rotations and closeouts, which kept the Celtics at bay even though they took an NBA record 36 first-half 3-point attempts.
“It’s about being connected, and I don’t think anybody’s more connected than us as a group,” Gilgeous-Alexander said. “And it played in our favor tonight.”
The Thunder clinched a playoff spot a month before the season ended, putting an end to the least-doubted eventuality in basketball.
“It was nothing surprising to me,” Holmgren said. “I knew the type of dudes that we got on this team, the type of talent that we have on this team, coaching staff as well. From top to bottom, everybody’s high level and we’ve seen it all year.”
The Thunder showed the Celtics that they are the team with a fresh, prolific defense that can hold up through different lineups, coverages and shooting luck. Gilgeous-Alexander had a few flashes early on, then led the Thunder by steadily chipping away until he hit his lofty scoring average, per usual.
There haven’t been questions about the Thunder’s legitimacy as a contender or SGA’s credentials as a leader for a while. But the top of the league is even enough that every last audition for the playoff run inches one contender ahead of the other.
“We’re going to try to be the best version of ourselves going forward individually and as a group and see where that takes us,” Gilgeous-Alexander said. “And if we don’t get it, we’re going to keep trying and get better this offseason. But it’s definitely somewhere out there.”
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(Photo of Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Jrue Holiday: Brian Fluharty / Getty Images)
