Key Moment
Jayson Tatum put his head down and drove to the rack for a loud slam with 1:41 remaining in regulation to make it a one-point game. Unfortunately, the Celtics didn’t score again from that moment on.
Boston missed all three of its shots over the final 100 seconds, and each of them had their own story.
First, Tatum drove again but this time kicked out to Derrick White in the right corner. White had already made a game-high five 3-pointers on the night, but this one rimmed out.
The next miss came off the hands of Tatum in transition. He grabbed a rebound with 22.7 seconds left following an airballed 3-pointer from Aaron Gordon and immediately took the ball in the other direction. There was a lot of contact from multiple Nuggets defenders as Tatum broke inside the 3-point line – enough to make him fumble the ball as he approached the rim. He somehow regained control and flicked a layup attempt at the basket, but it missed, and Tatum also didn’t get a whistle.
The same can be said on the game’s final shot of the night, which also came off the hands of Tatum.
After a wild sequence that featured a made and missed free throw from Gordon, a double-lane violation, a jump ball, and two timeouts by the Celtics, all in a span of 12 seconds, Tatum had a chance to send the game to overtime. Boston inbounded to him in the post with 4.9 seconds left and he immediately worked his way into a fadeaway jumper. Again, there was plenty of contact. Again, there was no call, and Tatum’s shot missed.
With that, Denver had held on by the skin of its teeth for a 102-100 win, and Boston’s unbeaten season at home had come to an end.
Key Player
Derrick White pretty much was Boston’s offense during the second half of Friday night’s game. The Celtics scored a total of 39 points over the final two quarters, and White accounted for 16 of them.
Boston’s offense hit a stop sign over those final 24 minutes as it shot 16-for-42 (38.1 percent) from the field as a tean. White, meanwhile, shot 6-for-12 from the field for a 50 percent clip. Had he not been out on the court during that second half, the Celtics wouldn’t have had a shot to win the game down the stretch.
White finished the contest with a team-best 24 points to go along with five assists, three rebounds, two steals and a blocked shot.
Box Score Nuggets
- Jamal Murray led the game in scoring with 35 points, and Nikola Jokic was right behind him with 34 points.
- Jokic also led the game in rebounds (12) and assists (nine).
- Derrick White led the Celtics with 24 points and also tied Jayson Tatum for the team high in assists with five.
- Outside of Jokic and Murray, only one other Denver player scored in double-figures (Michael Porter Jr. with 13 points).
- Both teams struggled from 3-point range, with Denver shooting 8-for-31 (25.8), and Boston shooting 14-for-44 (31.8 percent).
- Each team's bench logged 13 points.
- Al Horford led the Celtics with 10 rebounds.
- Kristaps Porzingis totaled 21 points and eight rebounds.
- Boston committed only three total turnovers.
- Denver made four more shots than Boston (42 to 38) while taking eight fewer shots (81 to 89).
Quote of the Night
"I thought we did a lot of good things on both ends of the floor … They made a few more plays than we did down the stretch."
– Joe Mazzulla on the tight loss to the defending champions