POST GAME DENVER - HOME

Celtics Wrap: Boston Puts Stop To Skid With 112-99 Win Vs. Nuggets
Jaylen Brown (27) helps Boston moves to 14-13 on the season

NESN by Sean T. McGuire

The Boston Celtics put together a far superior effort in claiming a 112-99 win over the Denver Nuggets at TD Garden on Tuesday.

It snapped a two-game losing streak, and hopefully with put an end to a brutal stretch which included 10 losses in 15 contests.

The Celtics did it on both ends of the floor. Boston shared the basketball at a much higher clip (26 assists), received 23 first-half points from its bench all while putting forth a defensive intensity that had been lacking over the last week. It is perhaps best depicted as the Nuggets were held well below their 115.5 point-per-game average.

Jaylen Brown hit some clutch shots in the second half and led Boston with a team-high 27 points on 11-for-20 from the field. Jayson Tatum didn’t have his best night from the floor (6-for-18), but finished with 21 points while Kemba Walker added 17 points on 5-for-13 from the floor.

Denver’s Nikola Jokic was absolutely incredible. He finished with 43 points on 16-for-23 from the field.

Boston moved to 14-13 on the season while Denver fell to 15-12.

Here’s how it all went down:

STARTING FIVE
PG: Kemba Walker
SG: Jaylen Brown
SF: Jayson Tatum
PF: Semi Ojeleye
C: Tristan Thompson

Center Daniel Theis missed Tuesday’s game with a right index finger strain prompting Thompson to start.

A BETTER START
Jokic scored 15 first-quarter points on 6-for-6 from the field, but it was Boston that showcased defensive intensity and ball movement (seven assists) in taking a 30-26 lead after the opening period.

Walker scored nine first-quarter points on 3-for-6 from the floor, and Brown, who did’t take a shot for the opening seven minutes, finished the frame with seven.

Aaron Nesmith was the first player off the bench for Boston and made his impact count. He made a great chase-down block which led to Brown 3-pointer on the ensuing possession, and hit a catch-and-shoot jumper of his own.


Thompson (four points) made a handful of early contributions while playing good defense on Jokic, who made a few challenging shots.


Both Denver and Boston finished the quarter shooting 50% from the field (10-for-20). The Celtics forced five Nuggets turnovers on the defensive end, as well.

STILL IN FRONT
The Celtics opened the second quarter with a mini 5-0 stretch and went on to take as large as a 15-point lead, 48-33, midway through the quarter.

Denver, though, came racing back to cut Boston’s advantage to 59-54 at the half.

Boston shared the ball well (14 first-half assists matched Sunday’s total) and received 23 points — Nesmith (7), Robert Williams (6), Payton Pritchard and Javonte Green with 5 each — from its bench. Boston’s bench outscored Denver 23-6 in the half.

The usual suspects like Walker (12 points), Brown (11) and Tatum (9) all were impactful as well.


Jokic, though, continued his scorching start. The Nuggets unicorn of a big man scored 27 first-half points on 10-for-12 from the field including 3-for-3 from long range.


There were a number of Celtics highlights including this steal and transition dunk by Green:


And a thunderous alley-oop from Pritchard to Robert Williams at the onset of the quarter:


Boston shot 21-for-43 including 8-for-25 from long range in the first half. It did, however, have nine turnovers as a team, including a stretch which allowed Denver to cut into that major deficit.

The Nuggets shot 20-for-40 from the field and 7-for-17 from beyond the arc. The Celtics forced eight first-half turnovers.

ON A RUN[/b]
Brown and Tatum helped Boston eluded the third quarter on a 12-2 run while the Celtics hit five third-quarter 3-pointers in taking a 86-75 lead. Brown scored 11 points in the period while Tatum added six.


Ojeleye, after going 0-4 from the field in the first half, scored eight points with a pair of 3-pointers.


Walker walked off the floor with 9:34 left in the third with what appeared to be a neck/shoulder injury after taking a hard screen. He immediately returned.

Jokic climbed his total to 39 points on 14-for-17 from the floor. He added a few more incredibly difficult makes against good Boston defense.

Boston shot 50% from the floor after three quarters and 13-for-33 from 3-point range. The C’s had four turnovers in the third quarter.

CLOSING IT OUT
Brown connected on a pair of 3-pointers in the quarter, the second of which gave the Celtics a 101-88 lead with 4:35 left in the game.

The C’s got fourth-quarter scoring contributions from Robert Williams and Pritchard, along with Tatum, Walker and Brown to help pull away.

Some end of game stats: Boston shot 48% from the floor (39-for-81) and just shy of 36% from long range (15-42). It did have more turnovers than Denver, 22-17.

Denver shot 45 percent from the floor (38-for-84) and 26 percent from 3-point range (9-for-34).

PLAY(S) OF THE GAME
We couldn’t decide on one.


UP NEXT
The Celtics return to TD Garden on Wednesday for the second game of a back-to-back against the Atlanta Hawks.

Well it appears that everyone had a meaningful touch of the ball tonight.. Scoring was spread throughout those who played.

Was it by design or did it just happen that way.

It was a pleasant thing to see verse those stupid iso 1 on 1 plays!

But on the same note,  Denver is now 15 -13, and not what you would call an elite team.

112288

Nesmith had a really good game - in a 3 and D type of bench role. That diving save that went off a player on the Nuggets was a big time energy play that really got the team going.

I liked that this was a quality 4 quarter effort against a quality opponent (in 7th place in the tougher WC).  We won all 4 quarters.  That is sustained effort, sustained focus, sustained execution.  That is what has been missing for most of this year.  We'll have phenomenal 2nd quarters and then disappear in the 4th, very inconsistent.  Denver is now 7-6 on the road, they were 7-5 coming in last night.  That's a quality opponent, I don't care who they're playing on the road.

Despite JT's 6-18 and Semi's 3-9 we still shot 48% on the game.  That's because of everybody else.

It is now abundantly obvious that Jayson Tatum is struggling with his stamina and endurance.  He's lobbing 3s because he doesn't want to do the more physical work of driving.  Part of the problem with that is the need for legs on jump shots and if you're playing 33 minutes and you're already dealing with respiratory issues then "Bombs Away" is not such great shot discipline.  Tatum was 1-8 from 3 last night.  He also had 6 rebounds and 8 assists, but more importantly he "only" had 4 turnovers.  A 2:1 assist-to-turnover ratio isn't bad for someone who isn't a point guard, but Smart can't come back soon enough for my liking.

JB scored in buckets (buckets in buckets!), going 11-20 and 5-10 from 3.  He had 5 assists, as he and JT try to fill the hole left by Smart's injury, but he also had 7 turnovers.  That's awful.  I can't say what JB's ceiling is on this, he keeps raising his ceiling every year, but he has definitely hit this one this year.  I'm not saying these numbers aren't better, they're the best of his career by far, but he's still making some poor passing decisions.  That's ok, what we're getting out of him overall is stellar, but see my comment about Smart above.

Sean Grande
@SeanGrandePBP
·
13h
Jaylen Brown with 27 tonight passed Eric Williams to move into 8th on the TD Garden all-time scoring list.

(EWill shouldn't get too comfortable in the 9th spot...Celtics back on the Garden floor in 20 hours.)




This game was getting ugly real early but Walker (and Jaylen) saved our asses.  I've been as down on him as anybody but credit when/where due.  He's still not all the way back, but games of even this caliber (5-13, 3-8 from 3, 17 points) make all the difference because it takes some of the pressure off the Js.

Thompson did his thing.  He rebounded and played bullyball on offense.  The Time Lord played an excellent 20 minutes.  8 points on 4-4, 8 rebounds (3 offensive) and 5 steals.  He still bites on every head fake though.  I can't completely blame him, though, Jokic was unreal.  Completely unathletic, can't jump higher than an ant's ass, can't run faster than slug and yet...43 points on 16-23.  29 points in the first half.  I spoke with Steve3344 last night after the game.  He pointed out that The Joker had a weak 2nd half because he only had 14 2nd half points.  I reminded him that we would love to have either J have 14 point first halfs.  He's smooth, effortless, earthbound and brutally effective.  He was throwing Tristan out of the way underneath last night and that is very, very difficult to do since Thompson is neither a toothpick nor a snowflake.



Nesmith with another good game.  He's looking more comfortable out there and his effort isn't lacking.  As pointed out he got a Tommy Point for going to the floor after a loose ball.  9 points on 2-4, all from 3, and 3-4 from the line.  It's nice to see a rook get to the line.  After an ice-cold start he's now up to 32.4% from 3.  Still shitty, but that average is only based upon 37 3pt fgas, so that could change rapidly with a few more fgm.  Bottom line he played 24 minutes and was a team high +20.  I have to keep reminding myself that Brad and his coaching staff are around the players constantly and see things everyday that we have no clue about.

Jay King @ByJayKing
yesterday
Aaron Nesmith said he tries to be the first player in the gym every day. Thinks as long as he stays confident the shots will go in and go in at a high rate.

Jay King @ByJayKing
yesterday
Brad Stevens called that “two good games in a row” for Nesmith. Believes the rookie has grown more comfortable with the speed of the game and has kept working at it. “I would say he’s on a good two-game streak. And we’ll see.”



Our bench scored 30 points on 11-17, 64.7%.  Not one bench player, and Brad only played 9 players last night, so only 4 players got off the bench (Nesmith, RWill, PP and Javonte), shot < 50%.  The Denver bench scored 14 points on 7-18, 38.8%.  Not one fta by their bench, zero.  Our bench was 4-5, with Nesmith taking 4 of them.  An excellent outing by our bench.  Their effort produced results.  The 4 of them were "flying around the court" as Brad likes to say.  Pritchard had 7 assists.  That's just one behind Tatum's 8, and he played 10 fewer minutes.  He also only had 1 turnover.  7 assists, 1 turnover, that's what we love.

https://www.espn.com/nba/boxscore?gameId=401267587




Bob


.

This is the type of game Boston badly needed. Both for a confidence builder and to get some minutes for reserves.

Denver cooperated by having something like 3 starters and 2 key subs out. Whatever. We'll take it. Next.

Let's hope we're not being led down the primrose path, Grace.  (Again, WAY to easy from the 80's!!)    

db