BSJ Game Report: Celtics 110, Nuggets 103 - Horford, White, come up big to hold Denver off

Everything you need to know about the Celtics' win over the Nuggets, with BSJ insight and analysis.

IN A NUTSHELL

The Celtics' defense held the Nuggets to 20 points on 38% shooting to fuel a 12-point lead after the first quarter. The lead touched 20 before a late Nuggets run cut it to 13 at the half. They got it back up to 20 early in the third, but a slew of turnovers, misses, and Jamal Murray makes cut it to six heading into the fourth. The Nuggets had their chances, getting it within three, but Derrick White and Al Horford came up with multiple big plays down the stretch to hold them off. 

Box Score

HEADLINES

- Good bounceback: The Celtics have not had a three-game losing streak since March of 2023. Obviously this game wasn’t as smooth as we would have liked, but they made the plays they needed to down the stretch to get the win. Avoiding long losing streaks is how you pile up wins and why the Celtics have consistently been around the top of the standings. And they did it without two starters, which isn’t easy to do. 

- Derrick White is clutch: I feel like I’ve typed “Derrick Saves” in the chat in every game since the break. He continues to find ways to hit clutch shots or make important plays. 

“Talk about the guy that just kind of saved the day for us time and time again,” Horford said. “He's just a winner so he just finds a way and we're very, very lucky to have him here.”

- Al Horford turns back the clock: The man turns 39 in three months, yet he’s consistently able to handle whatever matchups are thrown at him. He always seems to get up for these big matchups, and he pulled through with 19 points and eight rebounds and a clutch steal and layup at the end of the game. 

TURNING POINT

White’s 3-pointer with 3:19 to go answered a Christian Braun corner 3-pointer to make it an eight-point game. He then answered Murray’s layup with a huge floater off a long rebound that very nearly became a transition opportunity for Denver. His shots helped keep the Nuggets at bay so the rest of the Celtics could finish the job.

THINGS I LIKED

- Al Horford: More on him separately, but I just need to repeat that he’s going to be 39 in a few months. He’s in phenomenal shape and is a shining example of the kind of work necessary to have a long career. 

- Derrick White: You know why. Look at Horford’s face when he was asked about White being clutch: 

He finished with 17 points, three rebounds, two assists, and two steals, but he literally got almost half of all those stats (8/1/1/1) in the fourth quarter.

- Jaylen Brown: He tailed off in the second half, but he finished with 22 points, eight assists, five rebounds, two steals, and two blocks. He did have five turnovers, which I didn’t like, but he was able to steadily attack Murray early in the game as Boston built an early 20-point lead. 

- Bench production: The Celtics bench outscored Denver's 28-11, a massive turnaround from the Cleveland game. Payton Pritchard led the way with 11 points and three assists.

“I was talking to Payton the other day, and he’s such a competitor, he took ownership,” Joe Mazzulla said. “Not that I thought it was on him, but he took the ownership on making sure when he’s in the game, that lineup really impacts winning. I knew today he was going to put us in position to do that.”

Sam Hauser hit a couple of shots and moved the ball well, and Neemias Queta stepped in with an eight-point, 10-rebound night despite some foul trouble. 

“Neemi, just sticking to his preparation, his routine, even if he's not playing, you see him here same energy, working, and just staying ready for the opportunities,” Horford said. “He was put in positions that could have gone the other way, but he was taking Michael Porter Jr’s threes away at the 3-point line at times … Him being able to defend the perimeter, protect the paint, get rebounds, just staying ready and just taking advantage of the opportunity. He was very big for us tonight.”

Luke Kornet: This was mostly based on his first half, though he finally caught a late lob from White as the Celtics got away from some of the iso matchup hunting. I thought he was a great hub for the offense when it was at its best early on. All four of his assists came in that first half, and he played some pretty good defense as well. 

THINGS I DIDN’T LIKE

Jayson Tatum: He wasn’t horrible, finishing with 16 points, 11 rebounds, and seven assists. But he shot terribly (4-15 overall, 1-7 3pt), turned it over a ton (six turnovers), and he kept fouling (five personals). I think Boston should consider staggering Tatum and Brown more as we close the season just to give them some extra rest heading into the playoffs. 

- Tatum taking technical free throws: Yeah, he’s an 80% free throw shooter, But any one of six Celtics in the normal rotation have a better percentage from the line and should shoot before he does. 

- Jaylen Brown’s late misses: He was 0-5 in the fourth quarter, and every one of those shots were front-rimmed. 

“I had a couple that missed, that went short. My knee has been bothering me a little bit,” he said. “It’s been bothering me since before the break, something I will definitely take a look at. But it’s the season, you don’t make any excuses for it, but just try to take care of my body as best as possible and get out there and do what my team needs me to do. So we’ll see how it is moving forward.”

He definitely needs some time off. With two days off before the next game and it being a back-to-back with Portland and Philadelphia, I think giving Brown the night off against the Blazers and managing the knee by limiting his back-to-backs moving forward makes sense. 

- Ending quarters: Ending quarters poorly is a great way to ruin all the hard work of building a lead. They gave up runs at the end of the second and third quarters to make the fourth another dogfight.

“We have to take care of the basketball a little bit, some of the live-ball turnovers,” Mazzulla said “But in the third quarter, they played both Jokic and Murray the entire quarter. So that puts a ton of pressure on your offense, because they’re going to get good shots … we just can't have empty possessions. We’ve got to score, and we’ve got to take care of the basketball.”

HIGHLIGHTS

TWO TAKES KARALIS WILL PROBABLY REGRET LATER

- Winning shorthanded is impressive.

How many teams missing an All-Defensive starting guard like Jrue Holiday and a starting stretch-five like Kristaps Porzingis could build multiple 20-point leads? Yes, the Celtics lost those leads, but keep in mind how much of an outlet Porzingis is for Boston in those stretches where Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum turn the ball over. 

None of this excuses those turnovers, but it does highlight how much easier those guys have made things for the Celtics. Having Holiday to check Jamal Murray would have been very helpful in the third quarter. Having Porzingis as a roaming rim protector and post option against smaller players would have been very helpful all day long. 

Winning without them, no matter how it looks, against a team like Denver is still impressive. The fact that there are easily correctable things they could have done to make this game a little easier highlights how good they can really be, but I don't think we should overlook how they were able to win. Tatum wasn’t great and was a -2 with six turnovers and Boston still won by seven. 

- Jrue Holiday might be out for a while. 

Holiday missed his second straight game with mallet finger in his right pinky. 

“I didn’t hear about the term mallet finger until I had people tell me I had mallet finger,” Holiday told reporters before the game Sunday afternoon. “They just told me that I broke my finger.” 

It’s not actually broken. Mallet finger is a torn ligament that causes the finger to turn downwards. But the recovery will be somewhat similar to a break. 

“I’m going to be in a splint for a minute,” Holiday explained. “I have to keep it straight for as long as possible.” 

Holiday spent some time at his locker conferring with the training staff about how to proceed, discussing different options for how to wrap the finger. The unique nature of the injury means there might be some trial and error for how to proceed. 

“It’s probably all pretty weird and honestly inconvenient,” Holiday said. “I haven't tried so far to catch a ball because of the pain, but we’ll see.”

He won’t need surgery on the finger, but it’s obvious he’ll need some time. It’s a blow to Boston’s defense and continuity, but hopefully for Holiday, he’ll be able to come back with enough time to ramp back up. The good thing is that it’s a finger injury, so he can run and stay in reasonable shape until he’s ready to return. 

Next up: The Celtics host the Trail Blazers on Wednesday night.