Inside the pivotal 15-0 Celtics run that swung their game against the Denver Nuggets

Looking back on the Boston Celtics ridiculous comeback win over the Denver Nuggets, it’s easy to say Boston flipped a switch, went on a massive run, and turned the game on its head. In a nutshell, that is what happened. 

But how does a team really flip a switch? How does a run like the one Boston went on actually happen? 

Obviously, the basic elements of a run are defensive stops and offensive execution. Drill down deeper and you’ll see how the snowball starts to roll down the hill, and if a team isn’t careful, they’ll get caught in an avalanche.

“We needed something to get us going, and we were close to going the other way there when it was 76-62,” Brad Stevens said. “But we stayed the course.”

To flip things like Boston did, a team needs defensive effort, some luck, and a bunch of hustle. 

With 2:17 to go in the third quarter, Facundo Campazzo hit a 3-pointer to make it 79-65. It was Nikola Jokic’s 11th assist of the game and the capper to a 14 point, 5 assist, 4 rebound quarter that reminded us all that he is the MVP frontrunner. 

It didn’t look great. Sure, Boston had been hanging around and they’d made a run with Jokic on the bench earlier in the game, but the flow of this game very much pointed to Denver putting a closing run together behind Jokic and putting the Celtics away. 

Then Boston went on a 15-0 run. Here’s a look at how this pivotal three minutes of basketball changed everything. 

3rd Q, 1:44- JaMychal Green traveling turnover.

Romeo Langford would have drawn the offensive foul had the travel not been called. Jaylen Brown converted a layup on the other end. 79-67 Denver

3rd Q, 1:16- Campazzo bad pass turnover.

Boston starting switching everything instead of doubling. "(They) switched everything, and we allowed that to kill our offensive flow," Denver head coach Michael Malone said after the game. Jokic reads this as a rolling opportunity, but Campazzo expects Jokic to stay put, and his behind-the-back pass ends up in Kemba Walker’s hands. He finishes nicely. 79-69 Denver



3rd Q, :57- Campazzo lost ball turnover.

Walker switches onto two different players then comes over to strip the ball from Campazzo. Once again Brown finishes the layup on the other end. 79-71 Denver



3rd Q, :34- Green offensive foul.

Langford takes the hit a second time. This is Denver’s fourth straight turnover in the matter of 1:10.  

3rd Q, :05.5- Walker blocks Will Barton.

This is essentially a live-ball turnover just like the others, but it goes down as a block because Barton was raising the ball up to shoot. I think this is a steal and, really, a fifth turnover that leads to a Walker and-1. 79-74 Denver 



How many times have we seen this kind of cascading problem burn the Celtics. Each mistake is compounded as players fail to move on from their mistakes. A 14 point lead is suddenly 5 heading into the fourth quarter. Boston has confidence, while Denver is just reeling.

4th Q, 11:32- Jaylen Brown fadeaway jumper.

We’re in make/miss league territory now. Denver just missed two good looks at the other end while Brown hit one of his signature fake/fadeaways in the lane. This is another necessary part of a run. 79-76 Denver

4th Q, 11:07- Monte Morris missed jumper.

The Nuggets start their possession with :22 on the shot clock. They shoot it with :04, and Boston is defending hard throughout. Here’s one more necessary part of a run: the 50/50 balls. This is a case of Grant Williams wanting it more than Green, and that hustle and save turns into a layup on the other end. We’re up to a 13-0 run. 79-78 Denver



4th Q, 10:37- Green missed 3-pointer.

This leads to a Langford rebound and hard foul on the other end. Green is lucky this didn’t become a Flagrant-1 (don’t be surprised if the league upgrades the foul). Frustration has set in for Green, so instead of defending and trying to contest the shot, he just shoves Langford to the floor. Langford hits both free throws. 80-79 Boston

That’s a pivotal play, actually. The Nuggets still had a lead after taking a pretty massive punch to the jaw from the Celtics. Green, in the midst of a 1-6 shooting night that would see him end up as a -23 on the night, actually has an opportunity to defend this layup. He’s well ahead of Langford, and he could have squared up and challenged the shot. 



This is the kind of play that can swing games like this. If Green blocks Langford and Denver turns it into a transition basket, then they’re up 3. The foul is a further rallying point for Boston, and the psychological boost teams in this position get when taking a lead is huge. 

It’s deflating to fight all the way back to within one and then watch the other team answer back with a couple of baskets. Jokic’s return takes on a completely different meaning at that point because he can be the closer instead of the savior. The oomph Boston had in their defense to this point could have gone away after a deflating moment like this could have been. 

Green’s frustration on this play was deadly for Denver. Jokic checked in at the 8:39 mark as Jayson Tatum hit three free throws to make 85-80 Boston. At this point, the wheels were already off. Denver had gone cold and Tatum was in the midst of scoring 10-straight Celtics points. Jokic was yelling at the officials, Mike Malone was moving on to their back-to-back game against Golden State, and the Celtics were feeling very good about themselves. 

By the end, the run grew to 31-3, but it was a mere three minutes of game time, from the 1:31 mark in the third quarter to the 10:32 mark in the fourth, that Boston flipped the game on its head and came away with one of their best wins of the season.