The Thunder beat the Celtics in an overhyped “Finals preview” Wednesday night, and here’s what we learned: Nothing.
Despite a late-game collapse that often haunts them on the biggest stages, the Celtics are a very good team. They should be considered a serious favorite to represent the East in the Finals.
Again.
And the Thunder, as those finally being introduced to them now have to be well aware, also are a very good team. They should be considered equally capable as the Lakers and Nuggets to beat the Celtics in the Finals.
Because West is best.
We knew this well before Wednesday’s duel. It’s printed every day in the standings.
The point here is … if you’re Mark Daigneault, with an 11-game lead and staring at an opponent you might see in games that actually matter later this spring, why in the world would you show anything?
So Jayson Tatum scores 30-some-odd points. All the better. Just adds even more fuel to his one-man “I’m unappreciated” campaign and likely leads to even more step-back 25-footers than usual under the bright lights of the Finals, where the more he shoots, the better off the other team is.
And for that matter, why would Joe Mazzulla throw anything other than a vanilla defense at Shai Gilgeous-Alexander? Heck, let’s give Tatum a couple of shots at him, just to show people it’s a myth that the guy can’t play defense.
Only it isn’t a myth, and no way he’s standing within 10 feet of SGA in a Finals game … even as Tatum is allegedly rim-protecting and the Thunder star is driving in for a layup.
Forget what you heard time and again on TV: The game was meaningless.
The Thunder will finish first in the West, the Celtics will land second in the East, and nothing that happened Wednesday will change that.
Or in the final month of the regular season, for that matter.
Same goes for the MVP race. As much as the single-minded Tatum wanted to show up SGA, it’s another myth that this is anything but a two-man race.
And the second isn’t Tatum.
Actually, Nikola Jokic, while deserving of mention, needs binoculars to see SGA up ahead in pursuit of the MVP.
Yes, despite one of the greatest offensive seasons of all time.
That’s because MVP doesn’t stand for most outstanding offensive player. That’s Jokic.
The word “valuable” is in there.
As in: valuable on offense, valuable on defense and valuable in terms of winning.
And SGA wins that on split decision.
Jokic is the Magic Johnson of the MVP chase. An absolute offensive magician. A 10-9 or maybe even 10-8 winner on points over SGA on the scoring end of the court.
Unfortunately, Jokic is too much like Magic.
The game’s greatest entertainer is considered by many to be the best point guard of all time. Only one problem:
He only played point guard on one end of the court.
Magic Johnson didn’t play point guard on defense. He couldn’t. Bad knees. Too tall and awkward to stick with quicker guards, which they all were.
Magic was so bad on defense, even his college team played a zone.
Magic Johnson was the worst defensive point guard of all time. You read that right: the worst of all time. He couldn’t guard Kevin Hart, let alone Josh Hart. More his speed: Isaiah Hartenstein.
Think the slowest guard you’ve ever seen. OK, Luka Doncic. He’d run circles around Magic.
It’s why Magic wasn’t assigned to check point guards. He got matched up with the slowest non-center on the court, which usually was the other team’s power forward.
He was decent at that. Heck, he even guarded centers at times.
But on the scoring system, while he was a 10-6 winner over Jason Kidd on offense, Kidd won the defensive end 10-1. And that’s being kind.
It’s why Kidd, Gary Payton and many others were greater point guards than Magic.
No disrespect to Magic. He wasn’t the only one whose greatness was in the eyes of the lesser-educated basketball fans. Shaq, Dominique Wilkins and Isiah Thomas have earned top 20 all-time status despite bottom 20 defensive skills.
Frankly, it tarnishes the list.
If you pay equal attention to both ends of the court — a novel experience — it’s clear SGA is a better all-around player than Jokic. SGA is better than Kidd offensively and comparable on defense. He wins the defensive end over Jokic 10-4.
So then it comes down to the winner aspect, which is mostly subjective.
There can be no doubt that Jokic has a better supporting cast than SGA. Heck, the Thunder’s second-best player, Chet Holmgren, missed half the season and Oklahoma City still leads the heavyweight conference in a runaway.
Best player on the best team. It’s not do-all, end-all. But it beats being the best player on the second-, third- or fourth-best team.
Where would the Thunder be without SGA? Probably right where the Nuggets would be without Jokic. Which would be worse off? Does it really matter? They’d both be the Sacramento Kings.
Here’s the thing about the Thunder: They are 54-12, and their second-best player for most of the season — some would say even now — has been Jalen Williams. I can name you 15 far lesser teams where he wouldn’t be the best supporting actor.
SGA drives the Ferrari and everyone else is in the back seat … in a car that’s going 200 mph while Jokic has his team rolling along at 150 and most other playoff-bound teams are hovering around 100.
That’s the MVP of winning. A perfect 10 on the referee’s card.
Even if SGA were to get injured, or sit out the rest of the regular season to rest up for the playoffs, he’d be deserving of the hardware. He’s accomplished his lofty goal: get the Thunder the top seed in the West. And he’s done it with a month to spare — which is amazing.
Jokic, and Tatum for that matter, can score any number of points, grab any number of rebounds, dish off any number of assists the rest of the way … and it doesn’t matter.
Just like Wednesday’s “showdown.”
