NBA Week 15 Rewind: Celtics are heading for a special future

The Key Games and Results of Week 15

This week, we’re going to look at how the resilient Celtics forced their way past the Cavaliers and how the highly anticipated matchup between the Warriors and Thunder played out.

You may have started watching this game thinking the Cavaliers should go on to a relatively easy victory, no matter how impressive the Celtics have looked at times. The Cavs stormed out, hitting a few three-pointers and LeBron James converted an and-one to take a quick 15-4 lead. Despite losing the first quarter 32-20, though, the Celtics didn’t lose their composure.

The Cavs kept playing well offensively as all their stars shared the load. Kyrie Irving was creating off the dribble and putting Avery Bradley in spin cycles, J.R. Smith got going from three, and Kevin Love was finding open space to bury some threes of his own. Yet, as the first half wound down and they finished with only 17 points in the second quarter, the Celtics managed to close the gap.

As the third quarter started the Cavs began to look lost. Defensively, they just looked absent-minded with low effort. As they let 5’9″ Isaiah Thomas go coast-to-coast with ease without any of their multiple players in position stopping him, it was clear something had changed. It’s the kind of lacklustre, underwhelming play you don’t see from a team like the Warriors or Spurs, but the Cavs are showing they still aren’t on that level.

Just two minutes into the second half, the script flipped and the Celtics passed the Cavs with a 52-49 lead. Then, after another quick run, the latter retook the lead to go up 63-54 with four minutes left in the third. Heading into the fourth, the Cavs were up 73-65.

As the Celtics closed the gap again, it was due to the Cavs’ pathetic defense on fast breaks and in the paint. Especially in small-ball lineups with Tristan Thompson at center (an elite rebounder who’s far less effective protecting the paint), it was far too easy for opponents to blow past to the basket. And yet again at the final buzzer, it was defense that let them down.

Jae Crowder got an open look from an offensive rebound to bury a three with eight seconds left. Finally, with the ball back down 101-103, Bradley managed to get an open look off an inbounds play. As Iman Shumpert failed to jump in the way of the shot or contest, he watched Bradley send a three flying over his head to beat the buzzer and win the game.

Don’t worry, the video of that and plenty more highlights are coming right up.

We’ve seen the Warriors defeat the Cavs and we’ve seen them dismantle the Spurs, so a game against the Thunder was the next marquee matchup we all wanted to see. The two top duos in the NBA (Stephen Curry-Draymond Green and Russell Westbrook-Kevin Durant) were going head-to-head, and we were able to see whether or not the latter and their 3rd place team from the West could be a playoff test against the defending champions.

Both teams came out blazing on offense, as the Warriors took the first quarter 36-31. Golden State were executing offensively with their depth and clinical ball movement while Westbrook and Durant were leading the charge for OKC. In fact, despite the Warriors taking a 73-59 lead at half time, the Thunder duo were the shining individuals.

Yet, even with 14 points and nine assists for Westbrook and a game-high 23 points for Durant at the half, they still weren’t enough.

Even with the usual defensive weakness that is Enes Kanter playing hard to protect the paint (he also finished with 14 points and 15 rebounds in only 19 minutes), the Thunder just couldn’t match the Warriors’ ball movement. They kept their opponent’s defense looking frantic at times, and capitalized well of OKC’s 17 turnovers. As for the Warriors’ offense, they got into the paint far too easily, whether it was with the ball handling of Curry or precision entry passes through any gap available to them.

In the third quarter, the Thunder came back a little as they won the period 24-18. When the fourth quarter rolled around, though, the clutch shooting of Durant (who finished with 40 points) pulled them within just a few points.

He buried multiple three-pointers late in the game and cut the lead to just three points with only a few minutes to go. His efforts weren’t enough, though, as the Warriors were able to hang on behind a huge falling jump shot from Curry in the face of Durant with 33 seconds left.

Finally, as Green hauled in an offensive rebound in the final minute, they were able to take even more time off the clock and add another score with a Curry layup. Ultimately, no matter how close it was, their composure and defense just proved to be a little too much for the Thunder. Judging by this game’s competitiveness, though, next time could be different. And Kanter can most definitely be a weapon with his scoring and offensive rebounding if these teams face off in the playoffs.

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