Celts Fall Short in Wild One with Nuggets

By Peter F. Stringer
Celtics.com
July 12, 2006

LAS VEGAS - If you like emotional basketball, this was the game you were waiting to see from the Summer League Celtics. They didn't come away with the win, but they battled to the end and went down swinging in a 112-108 loss to the Denver Nuggets, a game that was more intense than your garden variety Summer League tilt.

The Celtics trailed for most of the night, and while there were some positives to take away from the game, Boston's struggles were mostly defending their own basket.

With the Nuggets threatening to pull away in the final minutes, Sebastian Telfair (game-high 26 points) took over for the Celtics, leading a rally with 10 quick points by getting to the basket and the free throw line. When asked about it afterward, Telfair had a simple response: "That's what we needed."

"I like that about him," Coach Tony Brown said of Telfair. "He saw that we needed to do something to try to turn the game, and his penetration, getting an opportunity to get to the free throw line, that's what you have to do."

But the Celtics had to send the Nuggets to the line in the final minute because they just couldn't get stops down the stretch.

"They broke us down off the dribble, they put us in a scramble mode most of the night and that gave them the opportunity to make open shots," said Brown, who was tossed with 3:22 to play after a technical was called on Telfair. "I liked our effort, I just wish we'd played a little bit better on the defensive end."

The effort was certainly there tonight. Al Jefferson (17 points, 11 rebounds) was active on both ends of the floor, calling for the ball down the on the block, battling for boards underneath and even going to the floor for a loose ball on the baseline and then another one that went into the Nuggets' backcourt. And he had at least three blocks that were negated by questionable foul calls.

The Celtics seemed to make a point of going to Jefferson in the early goings, and it paid off. Jefferson made some nice moves in the paint to get open, and his point guards made slick passes to get him the ball in position to score.

It was an up-and-down affair early, but the C's trailed 27-20 with 3:37 to play in the first quarter. After trading buckets with the Nuggets for the next few minutes, the Celtics closed to within three points at the end of the quarter with some nice inside scoring from Gomes (18) and Leon Powe, and then Gerald Green's half-court heave off the glass tied it at 35-35.

They trailed at the half, 55-50, as Casey Jacobsen and Ricky Sanchez were doing most of the scoring for Denver. And in the third, the Celtics looked to Green (24 points) for scoring, and he bounced back from a 1-for-7 first half by dropping 19 points in the third, draining five three pointers that helped put Boston up 81-80 after three quarters.