Boston Celtics Handed First Home Loss this Season
Photo by Stephen Gosling
The Boston Celtics were given their first home loss of the season on Friday, falling to the defending champions, the Denver Nuggets 102-100.
The Celtics, who still sit at first in the Eastern Conference with a record of 32-10, seemed to dictate the tempo of the game up until the fourth quarter.
Although it was a physical game, the Celtics never seemed to lose control, even building up a 10-point lead late in the second quarter and going into halftime with a 61-55 advantage.
But things seemed to fall apart late in the game for the Cs. With 11 lead changes in the fourth, the Nuggets capitalized on defensive rebounds off the Celtic’s numerous missed shots.
With almost five minutes left in the game, and a Celtics lead of 98-95, Nuggets Head Coach Mike Malone called for a timeout. Following the timeout, Nikola Jokic scored two jumpers, with another coming from Michael Porter Jr, leaving the score 101-98. Although the Nuggets rang in one more free throw, they did not make another shot for the remaining 2:50 of the game after Porter’s shot.
On the other side, down by two with 17 seconds remaining on the clock, the Celtics were hopeful to gain the lead with a three. After a missed shot by Jayson Tatum, Head Coach Joe Mazzulla called two timeouts to try and draw something up. But after the timeout, with the ball in Tatum’s hands, the fade-away jumper over the Nugget’s Kentavious Caldwell-Pope missed the rim entirely, and the Nuggets came out with the win.
In an interview following the game, (Khari Thompson, Boston.com) Tatum understood that not only did he rush the shot, but it could be used as a learning experience, “That’s on me. In the back of my mind, I wasn’t sure if they were going to foul. They had a foul to give. But, you know, I had more time than I gave myself. I should have took some more time, but you can’t go back so it’s something that I can learn from.”
However, despite the loss, there were still things to note for the Celtics:
Games this season allowing 0 steals:
— Taylor Snow (@taylorcsnow) January 20, 2024
Boston Celtics – 2
Rest of the NBA combined – 0
Last night was the 4th time in team history the Celtics allowed 0 steals – twice this season and twice prior.
1/19/24 vs DEN
11/10/23 vs BKN
2/6/05 at MIN
3/24/76 vs CHI
Although the outcome of the game was not something that the team was anticipating, their hustle and work still shine through.
The Celtics now look ahead to Sunday night at 7 pm, where they hope to regroup and regain their momentum against the Rockets.
