Jayson Tatum y Jaylen Brownwith 30 points each, led the Boston Celtics this Sunday in an overwhelming victory against the Nuggets in Denver (USA) who only had Serbian Nikola Jokic to face them (104-124).
With this loss, los Nuggets (42-30) caen al play-in while the Minnesota Timberwolves (42-30) move to the sixth position that gives direct access to the playoffs.
For its part, the Celtics are still absolutely thrown: They have three wins in a row and they have only lost 4 games of the last 25 they have played.
Tatum had 30 points, 6 rebounds, 7 assists while Brown got the same points and added 6 rebounds.
Coming off the bench Payton Pritchard had 17 points, 2 rebounds and 3 assists.
the dominican Al Horford he played 24 minutes as a starter for the Celtics and had 6 points, 5 rebounds, 3 assists and a block in 24 minutes on the court.
For the Nuggets, Jokic added 23 points (8 of 23 shooting), 8 rebounds and 4 assists in an imprecise encounter for the reigning MVP of the league and between news that Jamal Murray is not that close to return to the courts as was said.
The Argentinian Facundo Campazzowho is going through a difficult time in the Denver franchise, played four minutes when everything was already decided without leaving a mark on the statistics.
Although the Nuggets were slightly superior in rebounding (41 vs. 38), their shooting percentage was decisive (40.2% for Denver vs. fantastic 57.3% for Boston including a devastating 19 of 40 in triples).
Celtics coach Ime Udoka has managed to blend his starters on defense and attack to support Tatum and Brown, aided by bench players like Payton Pritchard, who have been decisive in recent games.
And when Tatum and Brown are not having a good day, squires like Robert Williams III or Marcus Smart have also taken the lead.
3-point madness
The Celtics dominated the first part of the opening quarter until Jokic, from three, put the Nuggets ahead (15-13 with 5.43 remaining).
The Serbian center continued to pull his team, but he couldn’t do it alone and Brown once again gave the advantage to Boston (22-23 with 2.41 to play).
German Daniel Theis came out inspired and took over the field.
With seven straight points, including a 3-pointer and an alley-oop, he held the Celtics’ lead before Tatum extended it to 27-33 late in the first quarter.
The electric Pritchard jumped onto the floor in the second half and lit his spark with a triple assisted by Tatum (32-40 with 9.39 for the break).
Denver fans chanted the name of Jokic who, despite not scoring for minutes and with the score against him, tried to impose the forcefulness of his presence on defense and attack, rebounding under the rim and blocking on the three-point line .
Meanwhile, the great little Pritchard hit two triples that shot the Celtics (39-59 with 3.01 left).
In the blink of an eye, Tatum hit three more three-pointers to cap off a huge second quarter for the Celtics (16-35) against some Nuggets without answers (43-68 at halftime).
Things did not change in the resumption.
Brown, with dunks and triples, continued to consolidate the difference for the Celtics in the middle of the third quarter (59-83 with 6:38 to go) while Horford, also with threes, continued the carnage against some disoriented Nuggets.
The third quarter ended with a resounding score of 75-98 after Will Barton hit a triple at the buzzer to slightly reduce the Celtics’ lead.
The fourth quarter began with a very fresh Celtics while the Nuggets looked to Jokic for a reaction.
However, the locals still had the wick left to imagine an epic comeback and to make beautiful team plays like the one Jokic started after a defensive rebound and which, after several sensational passes, ended with a rabid mate by Aaron Gordon at 9:44 from the end of the game. (86-102l).
However, Tatum, with a triple and a dunk in less than half a minute, was responsible for permanently embittering the Nuggets.
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