BSJ Game Report: Nuggets 114, Celtics 110 - Murray outshines Brown late in C's loss

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

IN A NUTSHELL

Jaylen Brown and Derrick White combined for 25 of Boston’s 35 first-quarter points as they took a four-point lead into the second. The teams traded runs in the second quarter and ended up tied at halftime. They did it again in the third with Boston taking a three-point lead into the fourth. But Denver went on a monster run to close out the game and get the win. 

Box Score

HEADLINES

- Late swoon: The Celtics and Nuggets spent the entire second half fighting for the lead in a game that looked destined to go down to the wire. Then the Celtics turned it over five times in about eight minutes. 

“That's kind of where the lead went from back-and-forth game to when they were up, like seven, eight,” White said. “We've been pretty good about not making those mistakes, but those turnovers, they definitely made us pay for it.”

- Hot Nuggets shooting: I thought maybe they’d cool off after a hot start, but they just kept making shots. Some of them were off Boston’s defensive mistakes, some were because they spent a lot of time blitzing Jamal Murray, and he made them pay. It didn’t seem to matter how they got the shots, they just kept hitting everything. 

- Jamal Murray’s elite game: He finished with 22 points, eight rebounds, and 17 assists. Six of those assists came in the fourth quarter, all during Denver’s critical run to take control. 

“He is so efficient with everything he’s doing ... his style of play right now is just so, whatever the right play is, he’s just making it," Nuggets head coach David Adelman said. "Sometimes the right play is him, and sometimes –17 times– it was somebody else. Not to mention the eight rebounds, four offensive rebounds, just a complete game from a guard that’s playing as good as anybody in this league.”

TURNING POINT 

The Celtics were up 90-87 with 8:12 to go when the Nuggets went on a 19-3 run to take a 13-point lead with 2:24 to go. The bench made a late run to make it close.

THINGS I LIKED

Anfernee Simons: He was on another heater, scoring 15 points in 6-9 shooting. I thought he should have been in a little more late in the game. Simons was on his way to another postgame podium night if the Celtics could have pulled this out. 

- Neemias Queta’s rebounding: He snagged a career-high 20, thanks to a career-high 10 offensive boards. He had a couple of possessions where he got half of those because of his own misses, but was still working hard to clear the glass. 

- Luka Garza: He was a positive off the bench with 11 points and five rebounds. He’d tell you he could have had more offensive boards, which is true, but he finished a +8 in his 19 minutes. 

- Hugo Gonzalez: He was pretty good defensively, checking in with two blocks and four rebounds. This is a great hustle play:

 He’s still not reliable enough offensively to play above a better shooter, but that will come with time. 

THINGS I DIDN’T LIKE

- Jaylen Brown: It feels weird looking at a final stat line of 33 points, seven rebounds, and four assists and saying Brown had a bad game, but I didn’t think he was all there mentally. He admitted as much after the game. 

“They were physical. They got away with a lot. The refs allowed them to get away with a lot,” Brown said. “I’d love to get to the free-throw line a little bit more. I was physical, I was aggressive, I went up strong. I didn’t flop, but I kind of let the officiating get to my head a little bit. I think the defense was good, but it wasn't great. I think I should have been better in spots.”

This was a classic Jaylen “do too much” game, where he drove without really reading the defense and passing mostly to look for a bailout. It’s why he turned it over seven times, three of which came in the final eight minutes. 

- Payton Pritchard and Derrick White’s shooting: They were a combined 4-18 from 3. Pritchard was 1-6 and White was 3-12. Everyone else was 11-20.

- Sloppy play: The Celtics were just not crisp at all in this game. It's almost like this was the first game back off the long road trip and the win over the Bulls was the second one. They turned it over 14 times for 15 Nuggets points, something that rarely happens to this year's team. They tend to win that battle, but they couldn't force Denver to turn it over (nine for nine points). They looked out of sorts, their spacing looked bad, and Denver's shooting made them look like they were scrambling on defense. 

HIGHLIGHTS

ONE TAKE KARALIS WILL PROBABLY REGRET LATER

- This is going to hurt Jaylen Brown in the MVP discussions.

The Celtics wilted down the stretch of a nationally televised game against a beat-up team playing without their megastar player on the last night of a seven-game road trip. 

Ouch.

Fact is, a lot of the MVP impact is measured on nights like this. Voters don’t get to see a ton of games, especially at this point of the season. There were definitely some people watching this clutch stretch closely to gauge the impact Brown is truly having on the team. 

And he mostly stunk down the stretch. He had six points, three turnovers, and was -14. Murray scored seven points, turned it over once, had six assists, and was +7. Peyton Watson scored nine. Zeke Nnaji scored eight.

There's a ton of time for Brown to make a strong case to be at the top of MVP voting. Everyone has a game or two like this, and doing it in early January is probably the best time to do it. 

But everybody saw it, and MVP voting is notoriously full of people looking for every reason to eliminate guys from contention to get to a last man standing. This game, with this late performance, will definitely be a mark in the “against” column. 

Next Up: The Celtics' home stand continues against the Toronto Raptors Friday night.