1. Outplayed in the 4th quarter
Going into the fourth quarter, the Celtics were up 82-79 and a solid final quarter could have sealed the victory. Instead, the Nuggets went on a 22-6 to open up an 11-point lead with 4 minutes to go and it felt like the game ended right there. Boston got outscored 35-28 in the fourth quarter and that is only because a fake comeback by the Celtics in the end made the score look better than it really was. This was due to the Celtics shooting 9-26 from the field and 2-9 from three in the quarter while not being able to get any stops on defense. Despite missing Nikola Jokic and every other center on their roster, the Nuggets just looked like the better team in the end.
2. Allowed too many wide open 3s
The biggest reason the Celtics lost this game was due to their lack of perimeter defense. Boston would double team Jamal Murray or Aaron Gordon on what seemed like every possession, leaving a guy like Peyton Watson wide open in the corner for an easy three. This resulted in Watson scoring 30 points on 6-7 shooting from three and Murray finishing with 17 assists.
Nothing tells this story better than the dagger three that came at the 2:24 mark of the fourth quarter. Jamal Murray went around a screen and had Jordan Walsh chasing him from behind. Payton Pritchard decided to try and cut off the drive by stepping away from the corner where Peyton Watson was. Murray then threw a pass to Watson in the corner, he knocked it down, and sealed the win for Denver.
3. Missed free throws came back to bite
There is nothing more infuriating in a basketball game is when your favorite team misses a ton of free throws and end up losing a close game. This is what happened to the Celtics in this game, shooting 9-15 from the free throw line and losing by 4. Free throw shooting hasn’t been a big issue for Boston this season where they average 78.8% from the line which is 13th in the NBA. This might just be something that bothers me, especially since the Nuggets were missing free throws at the end of the game and if the Celtics hit 1 or 2 more beforehand, it might have ended differently.
One positive from the awful free throw shooting night was that Jaylen Brown received MVP chants from the TD Garden crowd. It became a negative again once Brown missed both of said free throws but it was still a cool gesture.
A common theme amongst Celtics losses this season has been a high number of turnovers. Boston turned it over 14 times, 5 of which coming in the fourth quarter alone. A l0t of the turnovers came on the perimeter. Boston would trying to set up their offense but the aggressive defense from Denver would overwhelm the Celtics’ ball handler, leading to careless turnovers.
A good example of this came late in the third quarter with Anfernee Simons. Simons was trying to get around a screen from Neemias Queta with three Nuggets players around him, he coughs it up, and Denver goes on a fast break opportunity on offense.
5. Jaylen Brown mixed bag
Jaylen Brown finished with 33 points, 7 rebounds, and 4 assists on 14-29 shooting from the field and 4-6 shooting from three. On the surface, these look like another great performance, however he did also have 7 of the Celtics 14 turnovers in this game and had 5 personal fouls. It also didn’t help that Brown could not get a foul call to save his life when he drove to the basket on almost every possession. I wouldn’t say Brown lost them the game because he had a lot of positives.
Brown had 15 points in the first quarter and had the Celtics offense humming early. He made 3 threes in this quarter and had this incredible driving dunk that had the TD Garden hyped.
He also had a great third quarter when the lead was going back and forth, Brown turned it on and opened up the Celtics biggest lead of the night. He drove aggressively at Peyton Watson, got him to jump in the air with a pump fake, and finished the easy layup (that should have been an and 1) that forced the Nuggets to call a timeout.
The fourth quarter was rough for Brown, with three of his turnovers coming at really opportune times. I don’t think a better play explains his quarter then when he went to shoot a three point shot, decided to pass it to Sam Hauser on the wing at the last minute, and eventually just threw it out of bounds.
Overall, I still think Brown played a good game and the Celtics would not have been as close as they were to winning without his contributions. However, the turnovers were brutal and he looked a little frazzled at times trying to navigate the Nuggets aggressive defense. He said after the game that the lack of calls from the officiating got in his head a bit, saying, “If you don’t get some of those calls, then they look like bad shots, and it kind of snowballs on defense.”
6. Anfernee Simons continues to impress
Anfernee Simons once again showed out in this game for the Celtics, finishing with 15 points on 6-9 shooting from the field and 3-4 shooting from three. With the trade deadline quickly approaching, his play as of late has really made me second guess a little bit on whether or not I want him to get shipped out at the deadline. He is a lethal microwave scorer and his defense has improved a lot from the beginning of the season. It makes me think he could fit well when Jayson Tatum comes back.
One of the first plays that really impressed me was ironically not a play he was credited for on the stat sheet. After missing a mid range jumper, Zeke Nnaji was running the floor the other way and met Derrick White. However, Simons was chasing him down and went up for what looked like an impressive block. The block was later given to White but the effort Simons showed on this play was awesome to see.
Lets talk about plays that Simons was credited for. The end of the third quarter was a spectacular offensive showing for Simons. With 47 seconds left in the third quarter and after Derrick White missed a three, Simons crashed in from the corner and grabbed the offensive rebound. He then dribbled it out to the wing where all in one motion he turned around and hit a three over Jamal Murray. Then at the 21 second mark, Simons went around a Queta screen where and hit a pull up three right in the face of a great contest by Peyton Watson.
The last play I loved from Simons came at the 8:12 mark of the fourth quarter. After a White missed three, Simons was in perfect position for the rebound where he then euro stepped into a reverse layup along the sideline. Just a beautiful play right here.
7. Neemias Queta made history
With the Nuggets missing Nikola Jokic and Jonas Valanciunas, Neemias Queta had a real chance to clean up on the glass and he took full advantage of it. Queta finished with 20 rebounds on the night, 10 offensive and 10 defense and became the first player since Celtics legend Robert Parish in 1989 to accomplish this feat.
Queta was dominant in the paint all night like this play in the beginning of the fourth quarter. After Simons missed a layup, Queta grabbed the offensive rebound as the lone Celtic under neath the basket against three Nuggets players. He then battled to keep the ball and went up for a shot that blocked but came right back to him. He then went into the body of Aaron Gordon and threw up a hook shot that went in, getting a nice ovation from the crowd.
8. Bad call taking out Queta in the 4th Quarter
The play I talked about in the last takeaway where Queta used his body to grab an offensive rebound and score over three Nuggets players was the start of a dominant fourth quarter where he grabbed 8 rebounds in the first 5 minutes. At the 7:07 mark he would be subbed out for Luka Garza and not return until the final seconds where the Celtics were trying to play the free throw game. Once Queta was out, the Nuggets immediately went on a 13-0 run that Boston wasn’t able to come back from.
I think Joe Mazzulla has been a spectacular coach all year and he has shown all year long to push the right buttons when it comes to cycling through the role players on the bench. However, this move just did not work. The Celtics lost a lot of energy when Garza subbed in for Queta and it was apparent. Garza was having a nice game up to this point but the Nuggets just attacked him and got into the paint at will when Queta was out. I understand that Queta would have been exhausted if he played the entire fourth quarter and the Celtics might have lost anyway. But it did feel like the best 5 for Boston was not on the floor in this scenario and it cost them.
9. Positive paint presence
Highlighted by the dominant performance by Neemias Queta, the Celtics as a whole dominated the paint possessions against the Nuggets. Boston won the rebounding battle 53-39 and had 21 offensive rebounds. The Celtics also scored more points in the paint, winning that differential 48-26. You would think this would lead to a victory for Boston but alas it did not. Denver shot 20-44 (45%) from three and shot 58% from the field in the fourth quarter while Boston shot 15-38 (39%) from three and 35% from the field in the fourth quarter.
I think this was a great game to see where the Celtics really stack up amongst the elite teams in the NBA as currently constructed. I have to say, Boston put up a hell of a fight against a NBA Title favorite even without Jokic. The Nuggets still have a championship core of players with Jamal Murray, Aaron Gordon, and Christian Braun plus hot shooting nights from Peyton Watson and Tim Hardaway Jr. It makes you wonder what the outcome of this game would have looked like if Jokic and Tatum were healthy but overall I think the Celtics did a great job of holding there own and if they played a little bit of a cleaner game, it could have ended in a win.
