Thunder take down Celtics to clinch playoff spot

The Oklahoma City Thunder took down the defending champs to book a spot in the post-season.

The West-leading Thunder defeated the Boston Celtics 118-112 to improve to 54-12 on the season. It was their eighth win in their last nine games.

Unsurprisingly, Canada’s Shai Gilgeous-Alexander led the way. The MVP hopeful finished with a game-high 34 points to go with five rebounds and seven assists.

Gilgeous-Alexander, a native of Hamilton, Ont. also made a bit of history in the victory as he surpassed Kevin Durant as the fastest Thunder/Seattle SuperSonics player to reach 10,000 career points. Doing it in 381 games versus Durant’s 381.

Third-year forward Chet Holmgren also played an impressive game as he racked up a 23-point, 15-rebound double-double.

The Celtics were fronted by Jayson Tatum’s 33 points, eight rebounds and eight assists. Derrick White added 22 points and eight rebounds, while long-time veteran Al Horford chipped in with 18 points, 10 rebounds and six assists.

OKC will be headed to the playoffs for the 12th time since 2010, the second most in the NBA during that span. Despite being the youngest team in the NBA, they’re 11 games ahead of the No. 2 seeded Denver Nuggets in the Western Conference and well on their way to holding homecourt advantage for the entirety of the West playoffs.

The Thunder join the Cleveland Cavaliers, Boston Celtics and New York Knicks from the East as the only teams to clinch post-season berths to this point.

More to come…