Three things from Celtics-Thunder – CelticsBlog

Games officially mean nothing. Now that the Boston Celtics have clinched the best record in the league, they quite literally have nothing tangible to play for. Their win over the Oklahoma City Thunder on Wednesday night may genuinely be the last snippet of real Celtics basketball until the playoffs.

Joe Mazzulla won’t let them get completely unhinged, and everyone on the team loves to play, so resting is unlikely, but things could get weird.

Regardless, let’s look at a few fun things from Celtics-Thunder, and hope that there’s more fun in store over the final six regular season games.

Photo by Brian Babineau/NBAE via Getty Images

1. The Porzingis funnel

When the Celtics shut down Zion Williamson, they funneled him into Kristaps Porzingis, who swallowed him up.

That plan seems to be becoming a trend.

Payton Pritchard puts a body on Lu Dort just long enough to inch him into a big-bodied Porzingis waiting in the paint. By the time he gets to his spot to make a pass, Jayson Tatum has already rotated over.

Porzingis is looking more and more lethal on defense as the season goes on. That’s bad news for Boston’s potential playoff opponents.

Photo by Brian Babineau/NBAE via Getty Images

2. Porzingis tip passes

This Porzingis tip pass to Derrick White rocked.

And he almost did it again with this “tip” pass back-and-forth with Al Horford.

(Okay, the second one wasn’t exactly a tip, but it was a quick pass! The point is, Porzingis’ quick/tip passes were cool, they were both in the corner, and they happened within a couple possessions of each other.)

Brett Davis-USA TODAY Sports

3. Sam Hauser mid-range

The three-point puppet. The long-distance director. The behind-the-arc assassin.

The… mid-range master?

Back-to-back possessions, back-to-back fading middys for Sam Hauser. This guy’s bag may be deeper than we thought. He does more than just shoot threes!