West-best Thunder come to home of NBA champs and beat Celtics to clinch playoff berth

BOSTON -- — Shai Gilgeous-Alexander scored 34 and Chet Holmgren had 23 points and 15 rebounds to help the Oklahoma City Thunder clinch a playoff berth by beating the Boston Celtics 118-112 on Wednesday night.

In a much-anticipated potential NBA Finals preview, the Western Conference-leading Thunder withstood a barrage of Boston 3-pointers — a franchise record 63 attempts in all — to sweep the defending NBA champions in the two-game season series and win for the 17th time in their last 18 games.

Jayson Tatum scored 33 for Boston, which had won five straight and 15 of its last 18 games. Al Horford added 18 points and 10 rebounds, and Derrick White scored 22.

Oklahoma City scored the first nine points of the game and led by 12 midway through the third before Boston tied it 88-all on Tatum's three-point play to end the quarter. It was 98-98 in the fourth before the Thunder ran off eight straight points to pull away.

Takeaways

Thunder: After splitting a back-to-back against Denver, their closest competitor in the West, the Thunder controlled the game against the reigning champions and the likely No. 2 seed in the East.

Celtics: If the teams do meet for the championship, expect reigning NBA Finals MVP Jaylen Brown to play better than his 5-for-15 shooting night, missing all five 3-point attempts and scoring 10 points to match a season low before he fouled out.

Key moment

With the score tied at 98 and eight minutes to play, Kenrich Williams hit a 3-pointer, Gilgeous-Alexander made a pair of free throws and, after Williams hit a free throw, Gilgeous-Alexander made a 15-foot turnaround jumper to make it an eight-point game.

Key stat

Boston's 36 3-point attempts in the first half were the most in any half in NBA history. They finished 20 for 63 — tying the third most attempts in league history.

Up next

The Celtics visit Miami on Friday and the Thunder are in Detroit on Saturday.

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