Three Takeaways from the OKC Thunder's Demoralizing Loss in Boston

As fantastic as the Oklahoma City Thunder season has been, no team in the NBA has had a better campaign than the Boston Celtics.

Now reaching the 60-win mark after last night's game, the Celtics are the league's highest-performing team and an easy lock as a contender. Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown have been at the forefront of the lineup for the last several seasons, but the addition of Kristaps Porzingis has added a whole new dynamic, who scored a game-high 27 points.

Once again the Thunder were undermanned, with both Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Jalen Williams sitting out with injuries. It came close to beating the Philadelphia 76ers the night before, but a back-to-back game was going to be even more highly unlikely.

The 35-point loss brings Oklahoma City down to the No. 3 seed, but as demonstrated time and time again this year, the Western Conference fluctuates every day and it has plenty of opportunity to gain back the top spot.

Here are three takeaways from the 135-100 loss:

This Was Expected

The Thunder's loss in Philadelphia being as close as it was could be considered a little little shocking, playing without Gilgeous-Alexander and Williams against a returning Joel Embiid. It fell just short in the closing minutes, but it nearly came out with a victory.

Last night was going to be considerably more difficult against the best team in the league, so the fact that it lost in a blowout can't be surprising in the slightest. A team without its MVP candidate and rising star on a back to back against the Celtics is a recipe for disaster, which completely rang true.

The East trip has brought some of the heavy-heaters of the conference to Oklahoma City's sight during the worst time possible, causing it to lose the No. 1 seed after a decently long run with it. The likes of Chet Holmgren and Josh Giddey have done their best to step up in their teammates' absence and command the offense, but it has led to varying amounts of success.

The rest of the season leading into the playoffs is up in the air depending on the status of Gilgeous-Alexander especially, but either way, the Thunder will still have an opportunity to compete with their superstar recovered from his quad injury.

Wallace Can be a Starter

Out of all the rookies featured in this season's draft class, none might be as underrated as Cason Wallace.

The 20-year-old had the opportunity last night to be inserted into the starting lineup — his 11th time of the year — and made the most of it. He finished with 12 points, five assists, four steals and a block on 4-of-9 shooting in 28 minutes of action. His efficient brand of offense stayed mostly the same, as well as his tenacity on the defensive end.

Wallace continues to show the signs of his potential down the road, and it's almost certainly as a starter. He's good at nearly everything he does and does it in an effective way that benefits his team, rarely making any glaring mistakes. Although Josh Giddey has stepped up his play as of late, the idea of Wallace being able to replace his spot next season isn't out of the realm of possibility.

The rookie shouldn't necessarily be starting the in the playoffs this season. The bench role suits him well and he can be one of the highest-impact players there, but in case of emergency, Wallace can absolutely be an effective starter at his young age.

3-Point Shooting Woes

Although nothing went all that well for Oklahoma City last night, the most glaring issue was from behind the arc.

The Thunder shot a disgusting 21% from behind the 3-point line, including a 5-of-24 split. As bad as that line itself is, only making five 3-pointers in an entire game is unacceptable in today's NBA. It was killed in that area of the game, with Boston knocking down 17 of its 40 attempts on the night.

Of course it was without two of its best shot makers — Jalen Williams' 43% 3-point shooting is amongst the league's best — but its still no excuse for as bad of a performance as it was. Luguentz Dort shot 0-of-5 on his 3-point attempts, while Holmgren and Wallace both shot 0-for-3 on their attempts. Isaiah Joe had the best line of 2-for-3 shooting, but no other player had more than one make.

It was even a problem against the 76ers, where it got outmatched with 47% shooting to 33% shooting from behind the arc. Oklahoma City has been one of the top performing 3-point shooting teams all season long, but the recent performances have been worrisiome ahead of the playoffs. It will need to be fixed, or else it could struggle vaslty against some of the other elite shooting teams.

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