This has been a season full of frustrating losses, tonight added yet another to the total. The Celtics let this one slip away from them late, and it was very frustrating to watch. This was certainly a game that they should’ve been able to finish off.
This one started off pretty poorly, Denver put together a 11-0 run after going down by 4 early on. Thankfully, the Celtics managed to erase that pretty quickly. They managed to pull within 2 by the end of the first, trailing 24-22. The two teams continued to battle in the second, going back and forth and exchanging leads. By halftime, Denver had extended their lead by 1, leading 55-52. The Celtics went to work in the third. They started playing much better basketball as Kyrie began to heat up after a rough first half. They managed to extend their lead to 5 with hardly anytime left in the third, and then they allowed the Nuggets to score 5 points in the last 2 seconds. They made a three, the Celtics called a timeout, threw the ball out of bounds, and then Denver got a dunk out of the inbounds. The Nuggets played a dominant fourth quarter, opening up a quick 9 point lead and really never looking back. As good as Denver was, the Celtics were equally as bad. It seemed like they couldn’t get a stop or score when they really needed them. The Nuggets went on to win 114-105.
It’s really starting to get annoying that the Celtics can’t seem to win games when they have a chance to move up in the standings. Had they won tonight, and Indiana lost, they would’ve moved into fourth place. I can’t stress how important home court is for this team. They’ve got to start taking advantage of these opportunities.
This was a very winnable game for them. As a team, they just played an awful game. Aside from Horford and Irving, everyone struggled. Most notably, Jayson Tatum. JT only had 8 points tonight, and shot 3-12 from the field. He missed a good amount of shots that would’ve either given the C’s some momentum, or ignited a run. He has been pretty solid lately, so I guess that this one just has to be chalked up as a rough night.
Jaylen Brown also had a game that wasn’t up to par with his recent performances. Brown shot 2-6 from the field scoring just 6 points off the bench. The main reason why he wasn’t as effective tonight was his shot selection. In recent games, Brown has been getting to the basket and scoring with ease. Tonight, he elected to shoot a bunch of threes instead of doing the latter. Four of his six shots tonight came from the outside, he only made one. Hopefully this was just an off night for him, he’s been playing some great basketball lately.
The true issues with this game don’t show up in the stat sheet. The Celtics literally did the dumbest things at the worst possible times. For example, the end of the third quarter was just stupid. How are you going to give up 5 points in the last second of a quarter?? The first basket, which was a three, was due to lackluster defense, then they called a timeout to draw up a play. After that, they just threw the ball out of bounds and let the Nuggets score again. They essentially just called a timeout to give Denver some more points.
That wasn’t the only thing that happened. There was a possession in the fourth, when they were trying to come back and were down 7, where Marcus Morris was pushing the ball up the court and just fell down and lost possession. That one stupid move cost the C’s a potential run. The ball should’ve just went to Kyrie who was feeling it at the time. Instead the Nuggets got the ball back and scored to squash that run.
Take nothing away from Denver though, they were very good tonight. Jokic was amazing and seemed like he singlehandedly did the Celtics in. His 21 points felt like 40, and he was able to distribute the ball well as always. He hit two big threes midway through the fourth to break the Celtics’ back.
There were low points throughout the night, but the fourth quarter was just the worst. It was one of those games where it felt like the Celtics were going to come back but just never did. It was stupid plays like those mentioned before, and mediocre defense that put the nail in the coffin. I also haven’t mentioned the awful shot selection down the stretch. Hero ball made it’s return and guys were just chucking bad shots early in the shot clock.
It was just a frustrating night. They really need to do what they’ve done for the last two seasons, and beat up on the 76ers Wednesday night.
Thanks for reading!
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