Celtics Vs Nuggets — celtics vs nuggets: Jaylen Brown likes where the Celtics are despite loss
Jaylen Brown said the Boston Celtics will take lessons from their 103-84 defeat in Denver as they closed the second leg of a long Western Conference swing. The matchup was the Celtics’ first loss of a four-game Western swing in a game described here as celtics vs nuggets.
Celtics Vs Nuggets Turning Point
The game in Denver slipped away late in the third quarter and into the fourth. Joe Mazzulla called one timeout. Then another. The third quarter ended. The fourth quarter began. Those breaks could not snap the Celtics out of the funk they were experiencing in the second half of the 103-84 loss to the Nuggets.
Second-half funk and timeouts
Fatigue seemed to trip up the Celtics late in the third quarter, when their defense, strong until that point, began to unravel. Mazzulla called a timeout with 1: 27 left in the third after the Nuggets scored on three straight possessions with a dunk and two layups. Trailing 70-67, Mazzulla seemed to sense the game slipping away. His timeout did nothing to slow down the damage.
Jokić’s big night and stats
Nikola Jokić finished with 30 points, 12 rebounds and six assists on 11-of-28 shooting. On the first possession out of Mazzulla’s late third-quarter timeout, Nikola Vučević missed a layup and the Nuggets capitalized with a fast break the other way. Moments later Jokić drained a 3-pointer to extend Denver’s lead to 75-67.
Boston’s missed chances
For most of the third, Derrick White said, “we just weren’t really able to get anything going. ” And then they were taking those misses and getting out in transition and getting layups. The Celtics had their least efficient offensive performance of the season, shooting just 34. 9 percent from the field. Brown said he believed his team actually got “a lot of great looks” and added, “Every night is an opportunity to learn. ”
Brown pushed on the need to convert: “So definitely some takeaways from tonight. They’re a good team. I thought we put ourselves in a good position. We’ve just got to convert. I thought we had a bunch of open looks, and we just got to stick ’em and trust our guys to shoot it confidently. And then also I think we gave them a couple more extra-chance points than we would have liked on the glass. But other than that, I thought we competed. ”
Following a Brown turnover, K. J. Simpson slammed home a dunk to put Boston behind by 10. Boston then went scoreless over the first 1: 57 of the fourth quarter as the Nuggets finished a 15-0 run. Mazzulla said, “It was a combination of we missed shots, a combination of a couple live-ball turnovers, and then they got out in transition, ” and added, “I think half of (that) run came in transition, either off some of our missed shots, our missed rim reads, or just a turnover. ”
Road trip context and injuries
The Celtics had dominated the first three games of their road trip, beating the Golden State Warriors, Los Angeles Lakers and Phoenix Suns by 49 combined points. Even with Aaron Gordon sidelined by a hamstring issue and Jamal Murray leaving the game in the first half with an illness, the Nuggets remained dangerous in the Denver altitude. The second leg of a back-to-back in Denver — at the end of a long Western Conference swing — counted as one of the most difficult games on Boston’s schedule.
Bench, reactions and closing
Mazzulla emptied the bench midway through the fourth quarter. Brown also said, “Tough night shooting the ball, ” and added, “Their physicality was pretty good tonight, but I thought we just didn’t convert on the offensive end. That kind of spilled over to defense a little bit. ”
Derrick White’s comments continued to underscore Boston’s offensive struggles: “For most of the third (quarter), we just weren’t really able to get anything going, ” and he reiterated that the Nuggets were turning misses into transition layups. For the second straight game, only White could find a sho — unclear in the provided context.
The final line: Nuggets 103, Celtics 84. Jamie Schwaberow photographed the game.
