SGA, Thunder meet Celtics in potential Finals preview on TSN
Published
Canadian Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and the Oklahoma City Thunder will be tested Wednesday night when they take on the Celtics in Boston.
Watch the matchup LIVE this evening at 7:30 p.m. ET/4:30 p.m. PT on TSN5, TSN.ca and the TSN App.
An MVP front-runner, Gilgeous-Alexander and the Thunder are coming off a two-game split with Nikola Jokic – the only other player seriously challenging for the award – and the Denver Nuggets in a battle of the Western Conference’s top two teams.
The Hamilton, Ont., native led the Thunder with 40 points in Sunday’s 24-point win, but Jokic got the better of him in their back-to-back Monday night, dropping 35 points, 18 rebounds and eight assists in a 13-point Nuggets win that evened the teams' season series at two games apiece.
The Canadian point guard said he enjoyed the high-level competition on back-to-back nights.
“It's like, what you get out of bed for as a competitor, as a basketball player," he said Monday. "It adds a little bit more pop and excitement to the games, without a doubt. Just walking out there pregame, you can feel it in the building.”
“He’s definitely one of the top players in this league," Jokic said of his MVP counterpart. "He’s really talented. He’s so crafty. His mid-range has really, really, really, historical accuracy. He’s a great player. We tried to make him take bad shots or just get rid of the ball.”
FanDuel currently gives Gilgeous-Alexander -440 odds to claim his first MVP, while Jokic sits at +300 to claim his fourth in five years. That represents an implied probability of 81.5 per cent for SGA and 25 per cent for Jokic.
On Wednesday, the West-leading Thunder look for their sixth straight road victory. Oklahoma City has been better on the road this season (24-7) than the Celtics have been at home (23-11).
The defending-champion Celtics are rounding into form, having won eight of their past 10 games. They’re third in the league in net rating – a stat that measures point difference per 100 possessions – with plus-8.9 differential, trailing only the NBA-best Cleveland Cavaliers (plus-11.4) and Thunder (plus-12.6).
OKC defeated Boston 105-92 in their only other previous meeting this season on Jan. 5, getting a game-high 33 points and 11 rebounds from Gilgeous-Alexander and 15 points off the bench from Aaron Wiggins.
The Celtics have some injury concerns heading into Wednesday as both Jayson Tatum (right knee tendinopathy) and Kristaps Porzingis (illness) are questionable. Each player missed Boston’s 114-108 victory over the Utah Jazz Monday night.
Jaylen Brown (right knee posterior impingement) is probable Wednesday, while rookie Ajay Mitchell (toe, out) is the only notable injury designation for the Thunder.