The Boston Celtics entered the TD Garden on Friday night and failed to win for the first game since last May.
With a 102-100 loss, the visiting Denver Nuggets proved why they were the reigning champions, ending Boston’s franchise-record 20-0 home start.
Denver’s explosive combination of Jamal Murray (35 points) and Nikola Jokic (34 points) combined for 69 points, more than the fantastic three of the Celtics—Derrick White (24 points), Jayson Tatum (22 points), and Kristaps Porzingis (21 points)—could not muster.
There were many things the Celtics learned from the game, despite the unfortunate nature of a rare home defeat. They had the finest ball handling and aggressiveness of the whole season. It basically boiled down to two great teams going back and forth in this game, with one of them pulling off a few more clutch plays in the end.
Joe Mazzulla said, “I thought we did a lot of really good things on both ends of the floor.” “We had 12 offensive rebounds, just three turnovers, and one more free throw than they did. We got some pretty great shots from the outside as well as the rim, in my opinion. And in the closing minutes, they produced a couple more plays than we did.
Mazzulla’s three turnovers equaled a club record for the fewest in a game, something they had only done twice before. The C’s did not cough up the ball from the 3:16 point in the first quarter until the 11:15 point in the fourth. They just made one mistake due to a poor pass. The other two were a traveling call and a shot-clock infraction.
The fact that this game was so rough made the absence of turnovers even more remarkable. The bulky, powerful players in Denver are formidable opponents for the Celtics to contend with. Although Mazzulla believed they performed a lot better this time, he compared the aggressiveness to what they saw during their overtime matchup in Minnesota on November 6.
The coach said, “I think that type of physicality was the biggest thing we took away from the game.”
Two-time MVP Nikola Jokic is one of the league’s most physically strong players, and Kristaps Porzingis has his work cut out for him. Although it was a difficult experience for KP, it was also helpful in terms of being ready in case these teams meet again on a larger platform in the future.
Regarding Jokic, Porzingis said, “He’s the best player in the world, and he’s just so crafty.” “He is very skilled and versatile, but he also makes a lot of difficult shots that aren’t actually difficult for him because—I suppose it’s just that he’s been doing them for a long time, so you have to deal with that.”
Throughout the whole evening, Jokic and Murray both made really difficult shots, shooting much over their individual averages. Murray made 15 of 21 shots from the field, while Jokic made 14 of 22.
Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown, however, both shot far below their respective averages. Tatum made 9 of 24 field goals, while Brown made 6 of 19 attempts. Together, they only made 2 out of 17 shots from beyond the arc. They only dropped two points, however.
Had Boston won a few more plays, they would have been celebrating their 21st consecutive victory at home. But it’s hardly the worst way to end a run when you lose to the defending champions in that fashion. It serves as more of a yardstick match, comparing the Celtics’ performance to that of a championship team. They discovered on Friday that although they still have some space to develop, they are getting pretty darn close.
“Until someone takes them out, they’re the best,” said White, who had a fantastic second-half shooting performance. They win games in a variety of ways, and we’ve shown that we can do the same, in my opinion. We just didn’t execute enough plays or the proper plays in time to win today. It follows that we may certainly reflect on it, draw lessons from it, and go on.
Hey, 40-1 is still in effect.
Leave a Reply