Celtics fall to Nikola Jokic, Nuggets in contender showdown: 8 takeaways
The defending champions handed Boston their second straight loss Thursday night.
The Celtics dropped their second straight loss on Thursday, falling to the Nuggets on the road in a 115-109 defeat. They are now 0-2 against the defending champions this season.
Here are the takeaways.
1. The Celtics struggled mightily in a number of areas, but they had a real chance to win the game in the closing seconds, and here it was.
On a night when the Celtics’ offense was laborious and sputtering, they still managed to create a wide-open go-ahead shot in the final minute. Credit to Jaylen Brown for the aggressive defense and the steal (as well as myriad other things, which we will get to shortly). Credit to Kristaps Porzingis for lacing a relatively difficult outlet pass to Jayson Tatum. Credit to Tatum for not forcing the issue and making a pass, especially after forcing the issue went so poorly on Tuesday against the Cavaliers. Credit to Derrick White for a great read, which created a wide open 3-pointer.
But Tatum missed, and that changed the complexion of the game entirely. Instead of leading by a point and needing a stop, the Celtics still trailed by two, and the Nuggets knew they had their unstoppable mismatch in Nikola Jokic, which produced an alley-oop slam for Aaron Gordon with 20 seconds remaining – Gordon’s second wild highlight in the late fourth quarter.
Much will be made about whether the Celtics can beat the Nuggets in a Finals series, and it’s a very fair question – they were 0-2 in the regular season. But if you’re looking for a moment that could have changed a lot on Thursday, Tatum missing the most open 3-pointer he will have all season looms large.
2. The Celtics struggled across the board, especially from the 3-point line, but they remained attached thanks to Jaylen Brown’s herculean offensive effort. Brown scored 41 points on 16-for-29 shooting and grabbed 13 rebounds including six offensive boards (all in the first half). He also recorded three steals.
The Nuggets struggled to keep Brown away from the rim – he attacked and punished smaller defenders repeatedly and constantly seemed to have a step. If these teams do meet in June, maximizing Brown’s impact will be an important piece of the puzzle for the Celtics.
Another important piece: Brown will need to make his free throws. The Celtics were 16-for-25 from the free-throw line (64 percent) and seven of those nine misses were Brown, who finished 7-for-14. For a Celtics team that was within two points in the final minute, all of the wasted opportunities at the line will be a difficult pill to swallow.
3. Is Jayson Tatum okay? This isn’t meant to be facetious or overly critical: He looked thoroughly unengaged in a way that almost suggests he wasn’t feeling 100 percent. Tatum scored 15 points on 5-for-13 shooting, and he got to the free-throw line four times. He did finish with eight assists, but the Celtics’ best player was largely invisible against the best opponent they will face all year.
In theory, Tatum should be a matchup nightmare for the Nuggets similar to Brown. If he isn’t, the Celtics’ degree of difficulty skyrockets, and against a team as great as the Nuggets, a skyrocketing degree of difficulty very probably means a loss.
4. The Celtics shot poorly in their first meeting against the Nuggets, and that trend continued on Thursday – 11-for-38 for 28.9 percent, including 3-for-10 from deep by Porzingis, 0-for-4 by Derrick White, and 2-for-6 by Jrue Holiday (he made two 3-pointers in the fourth quarter that bolstered his percentage and nearly helped the Celtics steal the win).
The Nuggets deserve some defensive credit, especially against Porzingis who was better guarded on pick-and-pops than most teams can manage. But the Celtics also missed a lot of make-able triples beyond Tatum’s brick we mentioned at the top. White’s shots were clean. Holiday missed a pair of corner 3-pointers, which felt jarring.
Like Tatum’s struggles, the missed 3-pointers feel more like a strange quirk than a genuine cause for concern. But – also like Tatum’s struggles – the Celtics can’t get away with missing 3-pointers against the Nuggets and still hope to squeak out a win. It’s too integral to their offense.
5. To that end, the Nuggets also struggled enormously from 3-point range, finishing 4-for-21 (19 percent). Shooting is less important to the Nuggets than it is to the Celtics, but if the expectation is that the Celtics will bounce back to the mean, the Nuggets probably will too.
6. Jokic was, predictably, monstrous: 32 points, 12 rebounds and 11 assists while shooting 11-for-18 from the floor. He demolished Kristaps Porzingis when he drew that matchup, which complicated the Celtics’ defense quite a bit in the closing minutes and led to Gordon’s big dunks.
How the Celtics plan to guard him if they face off in the postseason is an interesting question, but we can probably expect more Al Horford and more Xavier Tillman. Porzingis is an overwhelmingly positive player who simply can’t do a single thing against Jokic’s once-in-a-lifetime combination of talent and body mass.
7. Brown, Porzingis, Gordon and Jokic all picked up technical fouls on a night when the officials weren’t going to let players have their say.
8. The Celtics will now travel to Phoenix on Saturday for their first of two showdowns against the Suns over the next week. Aside from those two games against the Suns, the Celtics’ schedule lightens up considerably – two games against the Pistons, and one each against the Trail Blazers, Jazz, Bulls and Wizards lie ahead over the next two weeks.
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