Their spirit was willing but the depleted Nuggets couldn’t quite hang with the defending NBA champions Celtics Tuesday night at Ball Arena.
Playing without center Nikola Jokic, who was scratched before the game with a non-COVID illness, Denver pushed Boston to the limit. When Christian Braun swished a 3-pointer to tie the game 93-93, he pumped his fist and the crowd went nuts.
But the Celtics executed down the stretch and made the big shots while the Nuggets ran out of runs — and maybe out of gas — on their home floor. Boston outscored the Nuggets 25-13 in the last 7 1/2 minutes to win post a 118-106 victory.
Tuesday marked the first time this season that the 2023 champion Nuggets went toe-to-toe with the ’24 champion Celtics, who improved to 27-10.
The Nuggets (20-25) had six players score in double figures, led by Russell Westbrook’s 26-point game, but it wasn’t enough to counter powerful Boston, which was led by Jayson Tatum’s 29-point night.
The Celtics usually float like a butterfly and sting like a bee. They came in averaging 50.2 3-point attempts per game this season, the most in NBA history and six more than any other team in 2024-25. But they came out pounding the Nuggets on the inside, a la Joe Frazier.
The Jokic-less Nuggets found themselves down 37-25 after the first quarter, mostly because the Celtics beat them up inside, outscoring the Nuggets 18-2 in the paint. That delighted the many vocal Boston fans in attendance.
Early on, Denver had no answer for Boston center Kristaps Porzingis, who scored 15 points and hauled in four rebounds in the quarter. Porzingis finished the game with 25 points and 11 rebounds.
But the Nuggets, sharing the ball well and out-hustling the Celtics, came roaring back, outscoring the Celtics 32-20 in the second. When Peyton Watson drained a 3-pointer off an assist from Dario Saric to tie the game at 57-all, the Nuggets got a standing ovation.
Saric replaced Jokic in the starting lineup, playing his first game since Nov. 23, 2024. He also started all three games that Jokic missed in November when Jokic was out for the birth of his second child. Saric went scoreless with one rebound and four assistis in 16 minutes.
Without the three-time MVP, the Nuggets had to fill a Grand Canyon-sized void. Jokic is averaging 31.5 points, 13 rebounds and 9.7 assists while shooting a league-leading 47.3% from the 3-point line. Denver’s net rating is 25.8 points per 100 possessions better with him on the court than with him on the bench this season and he’s already posted 14 triple-doubles.
“He wasn’t feeling great yesterday, and that has only gotten worse today, which is unfortunate,” coach Michael Malone said during his pregame news conference, when Jokic was designated questionable. “One, we have a game tonight. And two, it’s his Christmas holiday. … He’s trying to fight through it, and if he can’t go, then we’ll rely on somebody else.”
Boston played without former University of Colorado star Derrick White, who is also dealing with an illness. White leads all Boston starters in games played this season, missing just his second game.