DENVER — The Boston Celtics have been the NBA’s finest staff this season, however the champs nonetheless have their quantity.
The Denver Nuggets beat the Celtics 115-109 Thursday to brush the season collection with two thrilling wins this yr, the primary coming Jan. 19 in Boston. With the loss, the Celtics (48-14) dropped consecutive video games for simply the second time this season.
Denver has now gained each matchups in what will be the probably NBA Finals matchup, proving in each video games that Jokić’s brute energy and Denver’s defensive size can take the Celtics out of their rhythm. Jayson Tatum was by no means capable of finding consistency as a scorer or playmaker, Boston struggled to create open photographs, and the Celtics couldn’t determine easy methods to assistance on Nikola Jokić with out getting uncovered by Aaron Gordon flying above the rim.
Boston couldn’t discover a protection that would comprise the Jokić-Gordon duo within the put up. The Celtics had some weak turnovers, and whereas Jaylen Brown was electrical, he missed a ton of free throws whereas the Nuggets missed only one all evening. The Celtics have had a solution for each staff on this league and survived some robust capturing nights by getting it executed late, however the Nuggets (43-20), who’re a recreation behind Minnesota for first place within the Western Convention standings, nonetheless have the sting with their physicality and Jokić being uncontainable.
The Celtics had been carried by Brown, whose 41 factors introduced the one offense they may depend on towards this well-prepared Nuggets protection. In the meantime, Jokić was capable of get every part he needed within the paint, constantly ending on the rim and racking up one other 32-point triple-double with out even trying a 3 all evening.
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(Photograph: Ron Chenoy / USA At present)