The Boston Celtics outlasted the Denver Nuggets in a 110-103 win. Boston had a 20-point lead but nearly lost it after a Denver comeback. Jaylen Brown had 22 points. Jamal Murray led the Nuggets with 26. The Celtics were without Jrue Holiday and Kristaps Porzingis. Aaron Gordon, Peyton Watson, Vlatko Cancar, and PJ Hall were out for the Nuggets. The Boston Celtics improved to 43-18. Denver dropped to 39-22.
The Boston Celtics Hot Start
The Boston Celtics defeated the Nuggets in their earlier matchup. In this game, the Nuggets had Nikola Jokic, who made an early impact. He was scoring and assisting. Brown had the hot hand for Boston, knocking down a few shots, but both teams also had some sloppy moments and messy turnovers. It made for a back-and-forth affair. The Celtics took a seven-point lead off a Payton Pritchard three and a Brown bucket inside. From there, they went up by double digits. At the end of the first quarter, the Boston Celtics led 32-20. Brown had 12 points, while Jokic led Denver with 9.
Michael Porter Jr. drilled a three-pointer to start the second quarter, but Pritchard and Sam Hauser answered with three-pointers of their own. This helped extend the Boston Celtics lead. Their advantage in perimeter shooting helped them build a lead in a neck-and-neck contest. An and-one dunk from Brown pushed Boston’s lead to 19 and a Jayson Tatum three put them up 20. The Nuggets responded, going on a 9-0 run to end the half. This erased much of the Celtics’ progress in building their lead. At halftime, the Boston Celtics led 61-48.
The Boston Celtics played a good first half, but the final few minutes left a bad taste in the mouth. They had a 20-point lead that was down to 13. It was eerily similar to their last game against the Cavaliers, where they jumped out to a 22-point lead only to lose the game. Brown led with 15 points. Al Horford also had a great first half with 13 points. For Denver, their run to end the second quarter gave them a boost going into halftime. Christian Braun had 16 points and Jokic had 11. This game between the last two NBA champions was far from over.
A Close Finish
The Boston Celtics started the second half hot. They went on a 7-0 run, putting their lead back at 20 points. Denver answered by scoring five straight points. Murray had a quiet first half but began to heat up in the third quarter. The Nuggets went on an 11-2 run led by Murray and Russell Westbrook. This brought the deficit down to 11. From there, the game got more physical with frequent foul calls and no-calls on both sides. During this stretch, the Celtics could never pull away and their lead hovered around 10-15 points. Denver was still in this game and they knew it, going on a 10-0 run.
Through three quarters, the Boston Celtics held an 83-77 lead. The Nuggets maintained their attack in the fourth quarter, and Murray cut the deficit to four. The Boston Celtics responded with a Derrick White three and a Neemias Queta transition dunk. Denver came right, making it a four-point game again, before the Celtics struck back, going up by ten. It was punch, counterpunch, setting up for a great final stretch.
A Jokic three-pointer made it a four-point game with five and a half minutes left. The teams traded buckets as Braun, White, and Murray all hit three-pointers. After a Brown block, it was a five-point game with two minutes remaining. Murray got to the rim with a layup, bringing it to three. White then made a floater off an offensive rebound and the Boston Celtics defense came up with a huge turnover. This led to a transition bucket to put them up by seven with less than a minute to go. The Boston Celtics held on for a 110-103 win.
Final Thoughts
The Boston Celtics improved to 43-18 with the win. It was not pretty, as they nearly blew another 20-point lead, but they made some big plays in the final minutes. Brown led with 22 points, but the biggest players in the fourth quarter were White and Horford. Horford had 19 points and 3 steals. White finished with 17 points.
The Nuggets fell to 39-22 with the loss. Murray had a huge second half and finished with 26 points. Braun had 24 and Jokic had 20. They came back after trailing by 20 points on multiple occasions in the second and third quarters and nearly pulled off an impressive comeback.
