The Boston Celtics were hoping to show that they can beat one of the best teams in the NBA on Wednesday. Taking on the Oklahoma City Thunder, they were hoping to get some revenge from their loss earlier in the season.
Instead, they lost to the Thunder 118-112 after taking a whopping 63 3-point shots. It gives the Thunder the season sweep of the Celtics.
Boston has not played particularly well this season against the top of the NBA, so this was a disappointing result. They were looking to keep their five-game winning streak going.
Despite Boston losing this game, one NBA pundit thinks that they are a better team than the Thunder. In fact, he used to play for both teams.
Kendrick Perkins thinks that the Celtics should still be favored over the Thunder to win the NBA title despite losing both games to them this season.
"Did they make a statement last night to the non-believers that they belong? Absolutely. Do I have them picked to come out of the Western Conference? Yeah, I do. But I don't have them beating the Boston Celtics."
Boston was not fully healthy for this second matchup, missing Kristaps Porzingis. Porzingis continues to miss games with a mystery illness that they can't seem to diagnose.
Perkins believes that a fully healthy Celtics team would be able to beat the Thunder in the NBA Finals. Boston hasn't had a sustained amount of time where the entire starting lineup has been on the court together this season.
Boston hasn't earned the right to be favored over the Thunder based on the two matchups they've played this year. They haven't been healthy for those matchups, either.
The Celtics are more worried about coming out of the East than they are beating the Thunder right now. They still have to contend with Cleveland, New York, Indiana, and the Bucks in the Eastern Conference.
Perkins is already writing in Boston as the repeat champs this year. Boston needs to show that they can win games without taking 60+ threes before that happens.
