Boston’s Home Streak Snapped by Defending Champs

Boston: The Boston Celtics entered the TD Garden on Friday night and failed to win for the first time 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 trio 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 loss. They had the finest ball handling and physicality of the entire 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 stated, “I thought we did a lot of really good things well on both ends of the floor.” We only gave up three turnovers, grabbed 12 offensive rebounds, and made one more free throw than they did. We got some really great looks from the outside as well as the rim, in my opinion. Additionally, they produced a few

Mazzulla’s three turnovers tied a franchise 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 to 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 far better this time, he compared the toughness to what they encountered during their overtime match in Minnesota on November 6.

The coach remarked, “I think that kind of physicality was the biggest thing that we took (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 getting ready in case these teams meet again on a larger platform in the future.

Regarding Jokic, Porzingis remarked, “He’s the best player in the world and he’s just so crafty.” “I guess they’re not really tough for him because he’s just been making them for a long time, and you have to live with that,” the player said. “He has so many tricks and so many things that he can do.”

Throughout the entire evening, Jokic and Murray both made incredibly difficult shots, shooting far above their respective 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, though.

Had a few more plays gone Boston’s way, they would have been celebrating their 21st consecutive home victory. But it’s not 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 while they still have some room to develop, they’re getting pretty darn close.

They’re the best team until someone beats them,” stated White, who had a fantastic second-half shooting performance. They win games in a variety of ways, and I believe we have demonstrated that we can do the same. We simply didn’t execute enough plays or the proper plays in time to win tonight. It follows that we can certainly reflect on that and use it to our advantage as we move forward.

Hey, 40-1 is still in the running.

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