Heading into facing the most formidable opponent of its entire season, the Oklahoma City Thunder had no worries about underperforming against the 26-6 Boston Celtics.

A considerably tough challenge awaited the young Thunder roster, playing a team filled with experienced stars such as Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown and Kristaps Porzingis. The Celtics have been competing for NBA Championships while it was undergoing a rebuild, but tonight, Oklahoma City proved it’s back alongside the NBA’s best.

A gutsy performance from Shai Gilgeous-Alexander led the way for the Thunder, scoring 36 points, six rebounds and seven assists on 14-of-22 shooting and 3-of-5 shooting from deep. Even with throwing elite defenders such as Jrue Holiday and Derrick White at him, the MVP candidate found a way to have an incredibly efficient scoring night.

Josh Giddey followed by recording possibly his best outing of the season, posting up stats of 21 points, eight rebounds and six assists on 8-of-14 shooting, including 4-of-7 from behind the arc. He’s been shooting the ball a whole lot more efficiently as of late, and even though it didn’t lead to him closing much of the game, it’s a welcomed site for the Thunder.

Chet Holmgren and Jalen Williams also gave Oklahoma City great performances, playing a part in its 45% shooting night from the outside and combining for 30 points. They especially came up huge on the defensive end, combining for a total of six blocks, four of which came from Holmgren.

The game started off with Gilgeous-Alexander and Giddey quickly taking the reigns in the first quarter, scoring 15 of the Thunder’s first 19 points. Giddey shot 2-of-3 from 3-point range in his first stretch of minutes, continuing his recent improvement from that part of his game.

Kristaps Porzingis was the only Celtic scoring for the majority of the quarter, finishing it with 12 points on 5-of-7 shooting. Boston managed to keep the offense going once he moved to the bench, but Oklahoma City still kept the lead after Holmgren denied a layup from Tatum towards the end of the quarter.

Momentum began to shift for the Celtics in the second quarter, leading at halftime 61-58. Tatum began to come alive by finishing with 14 points in the half, while Giddey and Gilgeous-Alexander continued to perform the most for the Thunder, which led right in to the third.

Oklahoma City jumpstarted the offense early in the second half as 3-pointers began to rain down on Boston. With still a quarter and a half to go, Giddey completed back-to-back games with at least four made 3-pointers.

The lead jumped to 93-80 for the Thunder with 2:06 left in the third, as the Celtic offense struggled to keep up with the pace it was scoring at. Gilgeous-Alexander finished the quarter off with another 3-pointer, gaining his 33rd point of the night.

The 40-point third quarter gave Boston a difficult lead to come back from, but it found its way right back into the game. Tatum and White lit a spark in the Celtic offense, cutting the lead to eight with 2:28 left in the game.

A Tatum steal off a bad pass led to Brown getting to the free-throw line and cutting it to six, but Holmgren retaliated with his third 3-pointer of the night.

In the final 30 seconds, Williams became the hero of the game by hitting the dagger Oklahoma City used to put away the Celtics 127-123. The Celtics still managed to stay within reaching distance until the last couple seconds, with Gilgeous-Alexander’s two free throws finally doing the trick.

The Thunder will travel on the road to Atlanta to battle the Hawks on Wednesday, Jan. 3 at 6:30 p.m. CT in State Farm Arena.