The Boston Celtics, who have been considered the favorite to win the NBA Finals, faced off against the Defending Champions on January 19. The Celtics entered their matchup with the Denver Nuggets on a 20-0 home record to start the season. Their 20-0 home record is the best in franchise history.
The Nuggets became the first team to defeat the Celtics at home. The Nuggets won with a final score of 102-100. At the time of this writing the Celtics still hold the best record in the NBA at 34-10.
Two time MVP winner Nikola Jokić led the Nuggets past the Celtics with 34 points on 14-of-22 shooting, 12 rebounds, and nine assists. Jamal Murray also helped lead the Nuggets to victory adding 35 points, 8 rebounds, and 5 assists.
The Celtics All-NBA superstars Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum struggled, combining only for 35 points on 15 of 43 shooting.
The Celtics lost this game even though they only had three turnovers. Tatum had a chance to tie the game up with a shot in the final seconds of regulation but fell short.
The Celtics game plan was to not double team Nikola Jokić and it caused Jokić to have an efficient scoring night while finding his teammates numerous times throughout the game.
The two teams know how to put on an entertaining show for the fans but in the last 2:50 both teams only had one field goal made.
This win was very important to the Nuggets as it showed fans they are still there contending for a championship and can beat anyone. The Celtics are moving on from the game and are onto the next since they didn’t catch some of the breaks needed to pull off the victory
Ted McCarthy • Feb 3, 2024 at 9:29 am
Hunter – good article. The coaching on this team is substandard -no matter what Mr. Marcucci says!