Player grades: SGA, young Thunder squad pushes experienced Celtics in 126-122 loss

The Oklahoma City Thunder might be good.

After coming into Monday night as double-digit underdogs against the league-best record Boston Celtics, the Thunder were able to make it a full four-quarter game.

Leading by as much as 15 points, it took the Celtics outscoring the Thunder 37-26 to avoid the upset loss against a young squad where its inexperience was clearly shown.

The Thunder looked discombobulated at times with self-inflicted turnovers. It was clear that the youngest roster in the league is still learning how to win close games. But nonetheless, a bad 12 minutes should not take away from an impressive 36 minutes.

The Thunder went into TD Garden expecting to lose to arguably the best team in the league and instead took the fight to them.

While it’s a loss, not all losses are built equally. In this case, losing against the Celtics is not a loss the Thunder should be down about. While it might not be clear in the immediate aftermath after blowing a seven-point lead to enter the fourth quarter, they should be proud of their effort in this game.

The Thunder — who have been the laughingstock over the last couple of years for tanking — stepped up in the brightest stages in Madison Square Garden and TD Garden. After three seasons of being overlooked at and circled as an easy win, performances like these go a long way in changing the Thunder’s reputation around the league.

Considering all five Thunder starters played at least 33 minutes and nobody off the bench played more than 19 minutes, let’s take a look at Thunder player grades for the five starters.

Shai Gilgeous-Alexander: A-plus

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The Celtics had star duo Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown playing heavy minutes in this one. But neither of them was the best player on the floor.

Instead, that honor goes to Shai Gilgeous-Alexander.

Gilgeous-Alexander finished with 37 points on 13-of-26 shooting and went 9-of-9 from the free-throw line. This was Gilgeous-Alexander’s second consecutive 37-point performance.

On the season, Gilgeous-Alexander is averaging 31.5 points on 53.9 percent shooting, 5.8 assists and 4.4 rebounds in 13 games.

Aleksej Pokusevski: A-plus

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After three seasons, Aleksej Pokusevski is no longer a theoretical player.

In his fourth consecutive start, Pokusevski finished with 16 points, 14 rebounds and three blocks. In eight starts this season, Pokusevski is averaging 10 points on 47.8 percent shooting, 6.3 rebounds and two blocks.

The two starting forward spots have been fluid for Thunder head coach Mark Daigneault all season long, but with his play, it’s hard not to see Pokusevski eventually lock down one of those spots.

On a side note, Pokusevski suffered a nasty-looking rolled ankle in the third quarter. In clear visible pain, Pokusevski checked out of the game before momentarily returning. While he toughed it out, it was clear that his ankle injury was clearly slowing him down.

Hopefully it’s nothing serious for Pokusevski as it feels like he’s starting to finally build momentum.

Jalen Williams: A

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In his third start of the season, rookie forward Jalen Williams turned in one of his best performances of the season.

In 36 minutes, Williams finished with 14 points on 6-of-9 shooting and six rebounds. Williams also shot 2-of-5 from three. Nine of those points came in the first quarter as Williams came out with a hot start.

With the Thunder dealing with some injuries, Williams stepped up for them in a game that needed his offense.

Josh Giddey: B

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In 33 minutes, Josh Giddey finished with 16 points on 6-of-17 shooting, seven rebounds and four assists. A big knock on Giddey’s performance is the seven turnovers he committed.

While not as exciting as his performance against the Knicks, Giddey had a decent game against a Celtics team that rosters two great defensive-minded guards in Marcus Smart and Derrick White.

Lu Dort: B-plus

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I think Lu Dort found his groove back.

Against the Celtics, Dort finished with 21 points on 7-of-18 shooting and 3-of-7 from three. While it’s not super-efficient scoring, it’s still a massive upgrade over how Dort was shooting the ball earlier in the season.

After shooting 19.3 percent from three in his first 10 games, a 10-of-22 (45.5 percent) three-point shooting spree in his last four games has bumped his season average up to 26.6 percent from deep.

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Story originally appeared on Thunder Wire