The Celtics held up well defensively against the Nuggets.
They did the same two months ago. Joe Mazzulla exited the game confident. He liked the shots Boston generated and missed in crunch time before a clunky final possession cost the Celtics the opportunity to at least force overtime. Despite the crushing, repeated blows that Aaron Gordon provided along the back line and the staggering visual of 32 points, 12 rebounds, 11 assists and 0 turnovers from Nikola Jokic, Boston trailed by two points again late despite some of the team’s most erratic offensive execution costing them all night.
“His ability to get the ball in the paint and with the shooting and the spacing that they have, and the offensive rebounding presence that Gordon brings, it puts you in a bind in a close game as to what you’re willing to live with,” Mazzulla said. “I thought our guys did a great job changing matchups and changing the coverage.”
Boston started 8-for-12 from the field, involving all five players for baskets and doing so in a variety of ways. Denver adjusted, turning up the heat on Jayson Tatum’s touches as the Celtics shifted into a bigger, less offensively versatile lineup before a flood of unprecedented turnovers started piling up. The Celtics also only hit 14-of-36 (38.9% FG) after their hot start, missing 5-of-6 with Xavier Tillman and Al Horford on the floor together to close the first quarter while Denver flipped the game with a 7-2 run capped by a Jamal Murray heave.
The Nuggets matched the Celtics’ unique offensive exploits in their own way, and while Denver’s defense flashed a prepared, aggressive approach that kept Boston off-balance throughout the second quarter, the Celtics would’ve accepted giving up 115 points to Denver going in. Boston managed only 109, even with a herculean Jaylen Brown performance, willing 41 points on 16-for-29 shooting while limiting himself to two turnovers playing in isolation and transition.
Offense lost them the game.
Brown saved the Celtics from a blowout considering their poor shot-making and Denver’s overwhelming efficiency inside, but drawing from hero baskets to drive the offense only further underscored Boston’s organizational issues on that end. Tatum took only 13 shots and scored 15 points, giving the ball away five times on plays where the Nuggets brought an extra defender into passing lanes behind the two players they showed on the ball.
Jrue Holiday and Derrick White sprinkled in a few pick-and-rolls, while Kristaps Porzingis almost exclusively popped against Jokic’s drop and the Celtics’ fixation on taking what the defense gave them appeared to walk them right into traps. Porzingis and Tatum rarely received clean looks inside. Boston’s offense sped up as Denver’s did to generate deficits. The Celtics’ bench only scored 10 points while Peyton Watson alone created 11.
“The dynamic of our team, when other guys got it going in a rhythm, in a flow, you gotta space the floor,” Tatum said. “We always talk about respecting other people’s space. I’m always aware of what’s going on during the game, whether it’s J.B. or K.P. had it going and finding mismatches, respecting their space at times. If that calls for being in the corner or passing them the ball, and that’s what we’re trying to do on that possession, you’ve gotta honor that.”
Sure, Tatum had to defer to Brown at times. Their ability to play in a flow and connected as an offense is among multiple differences between Boston’s free-flowing and more stagnant offensive nights. Thursday just looked sloppy. Few teams — maybe only one — can put Boston’s offense on its heels with both crafty scheming and timely shooting on the other end. The Nuggets are the standard.
That provides some relief for the Celtics and lessons. They won’t deal with this level of resistance in most playoff series, but self-inflicted challenges, free throw shooting, three-point shooting and offensive facilitation, along with crunch time effectiveness, will all become barometers for how well Boston is playing regardless of the opponent and results.
Michael Malone also appeared to manage the game more fluidly than Mazzulla on Thursday. He threw multiple looks at Jokic defensively while mostly sticking to the game plan on offense and seeing Porzingis and Tatum fade further from the rim and consistent involvement. White’s usage as a high pick-and-roll creator remained underutilized.
A Celtics team that devastated mismatches during their 11-game win streak and wouldn’t let a single poor defender off the hook allowed Murray to hold Celtics players to 3-for-11 shooting. They only converted on 2-of-6 going after Reggie Jackson and fared better against Christian Braun (4-7 FG) — allowing him to play a second half rotation after he was unplayable in the first game.
“You have to give them credit, they had a good game plan and they were taking some things away,” Porzingis told reporters. “They were really quick to rotate, so when I was getting the ball, either on the rolls or on the pops, they were already going through my hands, going through the pass. They’re really good at that, and going forward, we have to be a step ahead of them. Look at that pass, but just throw the next one right away straight to it, because they’re over-rotating already. Three, four of those and a couple in the post, J.T. dribbled off his foot one time, I got the ball taken away from me, it’s a little bit uncharacteristic for us. We should be fine.”
Sloppiness happens, but the way Denver methodically anticipated the passing sequences Tatum would initiate multiple times derailed Boston in a 32-26 Nuggets second quarter win. That improved slightly to begin the third quarter, Porzingis converting consecutive pick-and-pops before Tatum attacked off White, Horford and Holiday.
Denver seemed comfortable letting Porzingis shoot from distance over guards, finishing 3-for-10, while Tatum never got back to screening, which became Jokic’s most devastating weapon on the other end.
Holiday’s limited usage as an initiator comes into question, too. The Celtics successfully used him in space late against Jokic, to the point where Malone had to call timeout with Boston rallying and three minutes remaining. Holiday poured in two more shots over Jokic after, and that gave the Celtics a chance to take the lead on a play where Tatum fed Brown a poor pass in transition that forced a kick-out back to him in the corner, a wide open miss.
Mazzulla pointed to that and White’s ensuing open three miss down by four as the difference, but the offensive dysfunction that still fuels fears in this team began as early as the first quarter. They developed answers to those old issues with scheming and personnel. Neither those, nor Tatum, could save them in this matchup.
“They were just trying to break his rhythm a little bit,” Brown told reporters, also saying he wishes he guarded Jokic more. “Make him settle for some isolation shots … we got to find some different spots to help him out, but also when you do get those opportunities, you have to be more aggressive. Transition opportunities, when they do get the mismatches, you’ve gotta go right away and stuff like that.”
