Celtics vs. Thunder: Play-by-play, highlights and reactions
The Boston Celtics (44-28) play against the Oklahoma City Thunder (51-51) at Paycom Center
Game Time: 8:00 PM EDT on Monday March 21, 2022
Boston Celtics 0, Oklahoma City Thunder 0 (8:00 pm ET)
What’s the buzz on Twitter?
Boston Celtics @celtics
Derrick White says we’re focused on containing the young talent on the Thunder tonight as we look to go 4-0 on the road trip. pic.twitter.com/1r2zy9n4FT – 7:52 PM
Oklahoma City Thunder @okcthunder
teamwork on and off the court
@Tre Mann 🤝 @Aleksej Pokusevski pic.twitter.com/RANeooKEJs – 7:29 PM
Keith Smith @KeithSmithNBA
Good opportunity tonight for Ime Udoka to get guys some minutes who don’t play a lot.
Aaron Nesmith, Sam Hauser or Nik Stauskas could all be in line for bigger roles. Same for Luke Kornet, if Boston wants to go a bit bigger up front with Rob Williams out. – 7:26 PM
Mark Murphy @Murf56
Udoka added that he doesn’t expect Williams to miss more than one game – an important note considering that the Celtics host Rudy Gobert and the Jazz Wednesday. – 7:15 PM
Mark Murphy @Murf56
Ime Udoka said that Rob Williams’ tendinitis-related absence wasn’t planned vs. OKC: “He had a flare up with some tendinitis, specifically on the lob play last night. I saw when it happened. Jumped off the wrong leg and I saw him rubbing (his right knee) and it flared up a bit.” – 7:14 PM
Boston Celtics @celtics
Starting 5️⃣ feat. @Derrick White and @Grant Williams pic.twitter.com/xbK7X6q83h – 7:12 PM
Jay King @ByJayKing
Ime Udoka on Robert Williams, who won’t play tonight: “He had a flare up with some tendinitis, specifically on the lob play last night.” – 7:07 PM
Brian Robb @BrianTRobb
Celtics depth chart vs. Thunder
Guards: Brown, White, Pritchard, Stauskas
Forwards: Tatum, G. Williams, Nesmith, Hauser, Fitts
Bigs: Horford, Theis, Kornet
OUT: R. Williams (knee), Smart (non-COVID illness) – 6:48 PM
Keith Smith @KeithSmithNBA
Aaron Nesmith is available to play tonight, per Ime Udoka. No restrictions on Nesmith’s minutes. – 6:42 PM
Brian Robb @BrianTRobb
Aaron Nesmith will be active tonight per Ime Udoka after missing last few weeks with sprained ankle. – 6:42 PM
John Karalis @John_Karalis
Derrick White and Grant Williams will start for Smart/Rob. No restrictions on other guys who are playing.
Aaron Nesmith is a go – 6:42 PM
Sean Grande @SeanGrandePBP
Derrick White and Grant Williams move into the starting lineup tonight with Smart and Rob Williams out. – 6:42 PM
Keith Smith @KeithSmithNBA
Derrick White and Grant Williams will start in place of Marcus Smart and Robert Williams tonight, per Ime Udoka. – 6:42 PM
Brian Robb @BrianTRobb
Celtics will start Derrick White and Grant Williams tonight in place of Smart/Rob Williams per Udoka. – 6:42 PM
Keith Smith @KeithSmithNBA
Robert Williams is getting a planned rest night, per Ime Udoka. This is despite the knee tendinopathy designation.
Marcus Smart is out due to the sinus issues that were bothering him yesterday in Denver.
Neither is expected to be a long-term absence per Udoka. – 6:41 PM
Brian Robb @BrianTRobb
Rob Williams getting the night off was a planned rest tonight per Ime Udoka. – 6:39 PM
Keith Smith @KeithSmithNBA
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander will play for OKC tonight.
Olivier Sarr is OUT with the flue Darius Bazley is questionable with flu-like symptoms. – 6:39 PM
Rylan Stiles @Rylan_Stiles
Mark Daigneault on Horford “only focused on winning” the first game of the year against the Hornets Al took “two shots in the first half, and I looked down and said wow I have Al Horford on the team and he only has two shots, but he doesn’t care, all he cares about is winning.” – 6:31 PM
Oklahoma City Thunder @okcthunder
super sport utility 🏎 pic.twitter.com/oJP4AdWU8A – 6:28 PM
Sean Grande @SeanGrandePBP
OKC’s leading scorer Shai Gilgeous-Alexander will play for the Thunder tonight against Boston. – 6:25 PM
Rylan Stiles @Rylan_Stiles
Mark Daigneault said Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is available and Olivier Sarr is OUT with the flu, Darius Bazley is questionable with flu like symptoms. – 6:25 PM
Brandon Rahbar @BrandonRahbar
SGA will play vs the Celtics tonight. – 6:25 PM
Boston Celtics @celtics
Jayson Tatum joined some elite company by earning his second Player of the Week award within the same month.
nba.com/celtics/news/s… – 6:15 PM
Gary Washburn @GwashburnGlobe
Jaylen Brown loves the freedom of being a sneaker free agent, and wants to ‘shift the mold of the athlete’ with his next deal #Celtics bostonglobe.com/2022/03/21/spo… via @BostonGlobe – 6:13 PM
Oklahoma City Thunder @okcthunder
The Thunder returns to OKC for the second of back-to-back games tonight against the Boston Celtics.
🎥 |@OUHealth Game Day Report pic.twitter.com/d5KQdIR7IQ – 6:06 PM
Lang Greene @LangGreene
Falcons don’t know it yet, but they are going to miss the hell out of Matt Ryan. Amazing consistency. Couple of elite years. Mostly above average years. Could pencil him in for 3.8k yards and 25-30 TDs every year. And didn’t miss games. Doesn’t grow on trees. – 5:53 PM
Sopan Deb @SopanDeb
grant williams trying to nickname himself “batman” is reminiscent of when glen davis didn’t want to be called big baby anymore, and instead insisted his nickname be “ticket stub” – 5:48 PM
Gary Washburn @GwashburnGlobe
That Chicago-Milwaukee-Memphis season-ending trip could be the biggest in years for #Celtics in terms of seeding. – 5:16 PM
John Karalis @John_Karalis
Grant Williams is really leaning into this. It’s tough to break into the “give yourself your own nickname” game… But he’s trying pic.twitter.com/QcHSNjofJC – 5:02 PM
Brady Hawk @BradyHawk305
Boston jumping up to that 2-3 bracket and Philly falling into the 4-5 doesn’t feel like the worst thing in the world for Miami – 4:49 PM
Boston Celtics @celtics
Batman stays ready 🦇 pic.twitter.com/jHESvKOdBo – 4:48 PM
Emiliano Carchia @Sportando
Jayson Tatum, Karl-Anthony Towns named NBA Players of the Week sportando.basketball/en/jayson-tatu… – 4:15 PM
Steve Bulpett @SteveBHoop
Jayson Tatum chosen NBA Eastern Conference Player of the Week.
Interesting to note Jaylen Brown was among the nominees, with Kevin Durant, Darius Garland, Tyler Herro and Pascal Siakam.
Wonder how often two players from the same team get close in the same week. Says something. – 3:47 PM
Anthony Chiang @Anthony_Chiang
Tyler Herro was a nominee for the Eastern Conference Player of the Week award that just went to Jayson Tatum. – 3:41 PM
Ira Winderman @IraHeatBeat
Tyler Herro a nominee for NBA East Player of the Week that went to the Celtics’ Jayson Tatum – 3:37 PM
Chris Vivlamore @CVivlamoreAJC
Matt Ryan’s replacement, from the Falcons: We have agreed to terms on a two-year contract with QB Marcus Mariota. – 3:36 PM
StatMuse @statmuse
Celtics 4Q point differential
Before new year: -77 (2nd worst)
After new year: +114 (2nd best)
(Submitted by @KozmoAndre) pic.twitter.com/0hQBTvdeME – 3:36 PM
Chris Grenham @chrisgrenham
Jayson Tatum has now won two of the last three Eastern Conference Player of the Week honors.
Week 20: 41.3 PPG, 6.3 RPG, 5.0 APG
Week 22: 29.3 PPG, 7.7 RPG, 5.0 APG
Some ridiculous numbers from Tatum of late. Celtics were a combined 6-0 over those two weeks. – 3:34 PM
Jared Weiss @JaredWeissNBA
Jayson Tatum and Karl Anthony Towns have won NBA player of the week after they both won it two weeks ago. – 3:32 PM
Gary Washburn @GwashburnGlobe
Jayson Tatum named Eastern Conference Player of the Week. #Celtics. #NBA – 3:32 PM
Boston Celtics @celtics
Player of the Week once again ☘️👏🏾 pic.twitter.com/OApdl9Vtv5 – 3:31 PM
Cody Taylor @CodyTaylorNBA
Minnesota Timberwolves center Karl-Anthony Towns and Boston Celtics forward Jayson Tatum have been named the NBA Western and Eastern Conference Players of the Week, respectively, for Week 22 of the 2021-22 season (March 14 – 20). pic.twitter.com/hEYBur270b – 3:31 PM
Shams Charania @ShamsCharania
NBA Players of the Week for Week 22: Timberwolves center Karl-Anthony Towns and Celtics forward Jayson Tatum. – 3:30 PM
Marc Stein @TheSteinLine
Minnesota’s Karl-Anthony Towns and Boston’s Jayson Tatum were just named Western and Eastern Conference Player of the Week by the NBA.
More NBA from me: marcstein.substack.com – 3:30 PM
Michael Singer @msinger
Last night, Celtics fans turned Ball Arena into The Boston Garden. At just 20-14 at home on the season, where has Denver’s homecourt advantage gone? denverpost.com/2022/03/21/nug… – 3:08 PM
Joe Mussatto @joe_mussatto
Thunder-Celtics injury report. SGA again listed as questionable. pic.twitter.com/9FkpMhBF8v – 2:52 PM
Adam Wexler @AdamJWexler
Falcons going nowhere w/ a declining, huge-salaried Matt Ryan at QB. They save $ on this year’s cap, have 5 of 1st 82 picks (assuming it’s a Colts ’22 3rd they’re getting) in the ’22 Draft, incl. no. 8. After 4 straight disappointing seasons, they finally face reality. – 2:10 PM
Will Guillory @WillGuillory
Matt Ryan has a 10-17 record against the Saints and one of those wins was against Trevor Siemian.
Gonna miss that guy. – 2:06 PM
Adam Wexler @AdamJWexler
Falcons with Matt Ryan:
First 5 seasons: Won 56 games (lost only 22), 5 winning seasons. He missed just 2 games.
Last 9 seasons: Won 64 games (lost 80), 2 winning seasons. He missed just 1 game.
In 2021, he posted the lowest QBR of his career, by far.
2022: Colts starting QB – 2:04 PM
