BSJ Game Report: Nuggets 123, Celtics 111 - Jokic, hot-shooting Nuggets bury cold Celtics

Everything you need to know about the Celtics loss to the Denver Nuggets with BSJ insight and analysis 

IN A NUTSHELL 

The Celtics fell behind early and never really recovered. It started out with bad strategy, then it moved into some bad play, and then some bad luck. Jaylen Brown was amazing early on, keeping the Celtics close. They played hard to go into the half down single digits. And they cut it to five a few times in the second half. But the Nuggets just couldn't miss from deep while the Celtics couldn't hit a damn thing. Hey, at least there was a 40 minute delay forcing us to wait for the end of this loss, right?

Box Score

HEADLINES

Live by the 3…: The Denver Nuggets shot 56.7% from 3 in this game, though through most of it they were up over 60%. Thanks to Ryan Bernadoni on Twitter who dug up the stat that teams shooting 60+% from 3 were 80-3 coming into the game. This won't count as one of those, but they only dipped below 60% late in the fourth when the game was pretty much over, so at the very least you can see how hard it is to overcome shooting like that.

Die by the 3…: Boston shot 9-33 from deep before garbage time, a cool 27.3%. They shot 28.2% in the last one. This is their sixth game below 30% from deep in the last 10. They had THREE of those games before that this season. Boston is now 4-5 in those games. 

Jokic could be MVP again: He did whatever he wanted out there. I wrote before the game that Boston had to limit him and they did the opposite. The defense was not crisp early and Jokic torched them for 30/12/12. He shot 10-13, made both of his 3-pointers and all 8 free throws. 

Point gahhhhhhhs: My attempt at a pun there was about as bad as the play from Marcus Smart and Malcolm Brogdon, who played like their water bottles were full of leftover New Year’s Eve champagne. Smart was 2-12 for 4 points and Brogdon was 1-6, also finishing with 4 points. Rough games for both. 

TURNING POINT

The Celtics actually came out well to start the fourth. Brogdon got two free throws, Robert Williams tipped in a putback, Derrick White hit a 3-pointer, and Williams caught an alley oop (that broke the rim and caused a 40-minute delay). But the Nuggets and Bones Hyland had all the answers, hitting four 3-pointers to keep the lead at 13, effectively keeping the Celtics spinning their wheels for half the quarters.

SECOND GUESS

Doubling Jokic early on was a bad idea. Doubling Jokic in general is a bad idea. I don’t mind the occasional dig when he puts the ball on the floor, but any time you leave someone to give Jokic more attention, Jokic finds that guy. Bruce Brown was the beneficiary early, and the Nuggets were able to catch fire. 

TWO UP

Jaylen Brown: When no one really has it going except for one guy, maybe they should make a little more of an effort to find that guy. I’m not saying throw the whole offense out the window, but the Celtics shot 46% overall and 27% from 3, but Brown shot 60/50. He had it going right away, scoring 14 of his 30 in the first. I would have liked to see more. 

Derrick White: White was the other guy hitting shots, finishing 5-9 and 2-5 from 3.

THREE DOWN

Jayson Tatum: He had a nice stat line: 25 points (7-16 fg, 11-14 ft), 7 rebounds, 6 assists, but he turned it over 5 times, when 0-4 from deep, and got too frustrated by the lack of calls at times. Was it really a “down” game from him? No, but it wasn’t an “up” game either. I don’t think he had his usual impact on the game. 

Marcus Smart: He led the team with 7 assists while there were certainly a few shots that he seemed to force, he was also missing shots he’d normally make in the paint. 

Malcolm Brogdon: He missed the last game due to a non-COVID illness. Maybe he should have missed this one too because he was nowhere near his normal self. 

TOP PLAYS 

TWO TAKES KARALIS WILL PROBABLY REGRET LATER 

- The starting lineup should be fluid

Pro athletes crave routine, so asking a guy to be a spot starter here or there. Eventually, a set starting lineup might be the way to go. But in this game, it might have made more sense to start at least one of the Williamses along with Al Horford to get some extra defensive help on the Nuggets. 

There has been a lot of talk recently about whether Robert Williams or Derrick White should start, and maybe the answer to both is “yes… depending on the matchup.” 

Joe Mazzulla acknowledged as much by starting Grant Williams in the second half of this game. This is a team with the ability to adjust how it plays, and getting off to a good start can set the tone for an entire game. The answer to who starts now that Robert Williams getting closer to being fully healthy might simply be to start double big when the matchups dictate it, or go with the extra ball handler when that's better. 

If this team is really willing to do what it takes to win games, then they should be willing to do this. 

- The Celtics need to focus with extra days off

This could just be a weird quirk right now, but Boston dropped to 1-6 in games with two days rest. 

I don’t know what’s going on with these extra days, but the Celtics might want to consider changing their routines a little so they can play better in these situations. They're shooting about 31% in these games with two days off. How is that even possible?

I don't even really have a “take” on this. It’s just weird. They should be rested and focused, but they're playing their worst basketball with two days off. I don’t understand that at all.