Morris saves C’s at end
Late trey caps off a thriller
The pace was where their cut-down, hustle-oriented lineup needed it, at a low offensive ebb on both ends of the floor.
And with Kyrie Irving, Marcus Smart and Jaylen Brown watching from the end of the bench in street clothes, none anywhere close to a return, the Celtics stayed even with Oklahoma City last night in the only way possible — by pressuring every shot and winning the rebound battle.
The result was a 10099 win for the C’s against a hot Thunder team with high-seed aspirations in the Western Conference. Marcus Morris, who went into a victory dance after, hit a deep 3-pointer with 1.2 seconds left for the final score.
Russell Westbrook missed a last-ditch 3-pointer as the Celtics capped a rare 2-0 season series against Oklahoma City.
“We played hard, but we went in too many droughts . . . but the guys found a way,” C’s coach Brad Stevens said. “It was a heck of a shot by Marcus.”
And it was a heck of an effort by rookie Jayson Tatum, who scored a team-high 23 points with 11 rebounds in 35 minutes. He shot 8-of-12 from the field including 3-of-6 on 3-pointers.
“We’re just going to keep throwing him to the wolves and go to him in these moments,” Stevens said of the rookie.
Stevens brought up Shane Larkin’s name before the game as part of his solution to cover for Irving’s absence, and the backup point guard, in Spain at this time last year, again demonstrated why the Celtics coach values him so much. Larkin came off the bench with 13 points on 5-for-9 shooting but impacted the game so much more with his ball pressure and speed.
“Shane has been remarkably reliable in spot opportunities, but they’re not spot opportunities anymore,” Stevens said.
The Celtics trailed by five points when Tatum hit from downtown with 2:58 left, though what followed went against the C’s, with Carmelo Anthony and Corey Brewer sandwiching 3-pointers around a Greg Monroe drive. The Celtics also got a post-up from Monroe, though they were losing the battle of the clock and the foul line at this point.
A Terry Rozier 3 cut the OKC lead to 95-92, but Steven Adams and Westbrook combined for three straight free throws and a 98-92 advantage with 24.7 seconds remaining.
Baskets by Tatum and Rozier followed — the latter with a 3-pointer — and when Anthony missed two free throws with 7.7 seconds left, the Celtics had one final chance.
Morris made good on it with 1.2 seconds left.
“We were fortunate that Melo misses two free throws,” Stevens said. “How often does he do that in his career?”
The Celtics might have lost their way in the third quarter, with Westbrook scoring 12 points in that stretch, including seven straight during a 9-0 run that was good for a 73-64 lead, but they closed hard.
The C’s scored the last seven points of the quarter, capped by Larkin’s running, buzzer-beating trey from the top of the circle to cut OKC’s lead to 75-73.
The Celtics were trailing by three points (79-76) when Monroe attempted something completely out of character. The big center stole the ball, drove the court, had his shot goaltended by Paul George, and hit the free throw for a 79-79 tie with 7:59 left.
Westbrook quickly hit a jumper, only for Larkin to take the lead (82-81) from downtown with 7:06 left.