The Oklahoma City Thunder clinched a playoff berth Wednesday night.
But simply returning to the playoffs, after last season’s heartbreaking loss to the Dallas Mavericks in six games in the Western Conference semifinals, is far from the goal. Instead, the Thunder have their eyes on a bigger prize: the franchise’s first NBA championship.
So rather than clinching that playoff berth, what mattered to Thunder guard and NBA MVP front-runner Shai Gilgeous-Alexander was that they did it by beating the defending champion Boston Celtics at TD Garden.
Doing so completed a sweep of the two-game season series against Boston and sent the loudest message yet about the intentions of Gilgeous-Alexander and the rest of the Thunder for the months ahead.
“It’s huge,” Gilgeous-Alexander said of the 118-112 win after putting up 34 points, 7 assists and 5 rebounds in 39 minutes.
“Because [the Celtics have] done it, because they’ve done what we’re trying to do, the games against them are always going to be heightened. They’re always going to be a little bit more exciting. They, like I said, achieved what we are trying to accomplish, and there’s no better test in the NBA.
“You play for late June, and the other team had won late June. So playing against them is always fun, always a really big challenge and something that we get to test ourselves against them. I guess we passed two tests so far.”
Boston players walked out of their arena Wednesday night knowing that if they face Oklahoma City again in a few months in the NBA Finals, they will do so having been hurt by poor shooting in the second half of both losses.
