The Nuggets closed out a taxing seven-game road trip Wednesday night at TD Garden. They were tired, banged up and missing arguably the best player in the NBA.
But that depleted Denver group had enough juice to take down the red-hot Celtics, whose four-game win streak ended with a 114-110 home loss.
Denver broke the game open with a 14-0 run midway through the fourth quarter and led by double digits with less than 35 seconds remaining. The Celtics staged a last-minute rally after head coach Joe Mazzulla removed Jaylen Brown and Derrick White, but couldn’t close the gap.
“Obviously, we had some empty possessions on offense (in the fourth quarter), and they did a good job versus our aggressive pick-and-roll coverages,” Mazzulla said. “… They did a good job executing on the offensive end.”
Brown led all scorers with 33 points but committed seven turnovers, one shy of his season high. White (17 points) went 3-for-12 from 3-point range in the loss. Center Neemias Queta pulled down 20 rebounds — the most by any Celtic since Jared Sullinger in 2015 — but was a game-worst minus-16 across his 24 minutes.
Payton Pritchard scored eight of his 17 points in the final minute of regulation, including three free throws that cut Boston’s deficit to three with 6.5 seconds to play. Denver’s Jamal Murray gained possession on the ensuing inbounds and iced the game from the foul line.
Denver Nuggets guard Bruce Brown (11) and Boston Celtics guard Derrick White (9) rebound during the second half at TD Garden. (Photo By Matt Stone/Boston Herald)
The Nuggets were playing without injured three-time NBA MVP Nikola Jokic; his primary backup, Jonas Valanciunas; and wing Cameron Johnson, all of whom are in the midst of multi-week absences. Denver had the rest of its rotation available after sitting three starters for Monday’s overtime win over Philadelphia, though Aaron Gordon came off the bench and Christian Braun was on a minutes restriction.
Murray, who missed the 76ers game with an ankle sprain, finished with more assists (17) than the entire Celtics roster (16) to go along with 22 points and seven rebounds. Denver boosted that total by going 20-for-45 from 3-point range, tied for the second-most made threes by a Celtics opponent this season.
“They shot the ball incredibly well from downtown tonight,” Brown said.
The loss dropped the 23-13 Celtics to third place in the Eastern Conference. They hold a one-game lead over the fourth-place Toronto Raptors, whom they will host this Friday (7 p.m.) on the first night of a back-to-back.
After scoring just 14 points on 6-of-24 shooting in Monday’s win over the Chicago Bulls — a rare off night for the Celtics star — Brown needed just nine minutes to surpass that total against Denver. He scored 15 in the first quarter, going 6-for-11 from the field and 3-for-5 from three.
White closed the quarter with buckets on three straight Celtics possessions — a layup, a 3-pointer and a driving baseline dunk — then hit another three moments into the second that put Boston ahead, 38-31. Much of Denver’s early production came on uncharacteristically effective outside shooting from role players Peyton Watson and DaRon Holmes II, who started a combined 6-for-6 from beyond the arc.
Boston Celtics guard Jaylen Brown (7) hits a 3-pointer against the Denver Nuggets during the first half at TD Garden. (Photo By Matt Stone/Boston Herald)
Watson came in averaging 1.1 made threes per game this season. Holmes, starting at center with Jokic and Valanciunas out, was playing in his eighth career NBA game.
The Nuggets compiled a 10-0 run midway through the second quarter before Luka Garza snapped it with back-to-back makes in the paint, the second off a nifty feed from Baylor Scheierman. Garza, consistently impactful since reentering Mazzulla’s rotation late last month, is shooting 22-for-28 over his last five games.
Boston led late in the first half, but Denver capitalized on a rebounding breakdown to pull even. Four Celtics players were in the paint when Gordon’s 3-point attempt caromed out toward the free-throw line, leading to a wide-open second-chance triple for Murray with 6.4 seconds to play in the half. The teams entered halftime tied at 58-58.
Officiating was a point of contention for the Celtics, who attempted just two foul shots over the first 29 minutes. Brown reacted demonstrably to multiple no-calls during the first half, and White and Pritchard both had words with referee Kevin Scott after Pritchard was whistled for a third-quarter foul on Murray.
Brown drew his first shooting foul at the 6:04 mark of the third quarter, as part of a 12-0 Celtics run. Though he missed both of his free throws (the Celtics went 9-for-15 from the line as a team), Brown made three contested shots in the lane during that stretch, which also included another clutch sequence from Garza.
Boston’s backup center hit a straightaway 3-pointer, then drew a charge on the ensuing possession. The Celtics held the Nuggets scoreless for more than six straight minutes.
Denver Nuggets guard Peyton Watson (8) stops Boston Celtics guard Jordan Walsh (27) during the second half at TD Garden. (Photo By Matt Stone/Boston Herald)
But Denver recovered, got threes from Murray, Tim Hardaway Jr. and Gordon, and pulled ahead 76-74 late in the third. The Celtics entered the fourth with momentum, though, thanks to two other consistent bench standouts.
Hugo Gonzalez, Boston’s 6-foot-6 rookie wing, outleaped three Nuggets to pull down an offensive rebound, then fed Anfernee Simons for a much-needed 3-pointer. Simons (15 points, 6-of-9) canned another three on the next possession to help Boston close the quarter on a 6-0 run. Like Garza, Simons and Gonzalez have been second-unit standouts of late, entering Wednesday ranked second and fourth in the NBA in plus/minus, respectively, since the start of December.
The Celtics led 90-87 when Brown checked back in with 8:12 remaining. But he registered as many turnovers (two) as made field goals the rest of the way, and Boston’s defense imploded. Denver scored on seven consecutive possessions to take a 10-point lead, and the Celtics never fully recovered.
“They did a good job (against Brown),” Mazzulla said. “Just switching, being aggressive, putting length on him. We’ve just got to continue to get better at our reads, making 2-on-1 reads.”
Boston found some late life with a lineup of Pritchard, Gonzalez, Scheierman, Walsh and Sam Hauser, but Denver withstood the last-gasp comeback bid.
“It was probably just that type of game where they hit every shot off our mistakes,” Pritchard said. “It is the NBA, so usually that does happen. So we’ve got to tighten that up. I feel like we’ve done a really good job of not turning it over and making bad reads, so maybe today we made a couple of those. But we’ve been on a good stretch. Tough game, they played well, so tip the cap. But probably move on from this, learn and grow.”