Celtics take that L on the way out as Nuggets bash NBA’s best

DENVER—The Denver Nuggets have won everything and yet they’ve won nothing—it’s the crux of a repeat bid midway through the season. On Thursday, they were somewhere in the middle of this scale, as they topped the NBA-leading Boston Celtics 115-109.

It was yet another night where the Nuggets (43-20) felt inevitable. A machine with a goto finishing move that disassembles enemies with precision. An action they just call “one-five” to refer to where the ball needs to go and how right it will feel once it gets there. And there’s almost something dystopian about the way No. 15 Nikola Jokic surveys the opponent and finds a weakness.

Though the Nuggets are not some grand apparatus, nor is Jokic an emotionless algorithm. Together they are a living breathing ecosystem and it’s this quote from an architectural YouTube channel that explains things, “The ability to make choices and improvise is part of what makes a person alive.”

While running “one-five,” Jokic made one of the great ad-libs a basketball watcher can see. Up two, with the clock ticking down under 25, the ball was in the Joker’s hands. Spinning toward the baseline then a second time back into the lane the NBA’s two-time MVP seemed poised to go over fellow seven-footer Kristaps Porziņģis to hit a game-clinching hook shot. He rose for the shot, threw up the ball with the right and it was right into the hands of Aaron Gordon for a massive alley-oop slam that sealed the game.

It was this very improvisation that is at the core of what makes Nuggets basketball so beautiful. It’s selfless, evolving and connected. And they leave this split-second decision of shot or lob in the hands of Jokic night in and night out—even when the clock is ticking down.

“It just goes with our preparation on a daily basis. You can see the hunger and seriousness in the guy’s eyes and it’s getting about that time in the year where every game means something, every game is a chance to get better,” Nuggets youngster Peyton Watson said. “We’re taking it seriously. Everybody’s staying healthy taking care of their bodies, and everybody’s playing for one another. That’s the big differentiator between us and other teams is that we play for each other. My brother’s success is mine, and so on and so forth.”

No Nugget was more emotional on Thursday than Watson, who flew around the court like a fighter jet piloted by Tom Cruise. It was reckless, Maverick and yet it was the exact maneuvers necessary to carry the rest of the squad. Watson scored 11, including a hyped three-pointer and added two big blocks.

“He lives up to the moment,” Jokic said of Watson. “he’s like poison with his energy. He accepts his role and that’s what it’s supposed to be. He’ll get his opportunity but right now there are a couple of guys better than him.”

Among those better with the opportunity against the Celtics (48-14) was Gordon, whose game-clinching slam wasn’t even his best. The former dunk contest participant had at least three 50s, including what Michael Malone said is one of the best in-game dunks he’s seen. A baseline putback coming down to Gordon’s ankle off a Jokic late miss for an emphatic slam.

“We both grew up playing point guard so we see each other, he like the center that I’ve always wanted to play with,” Gordon said of Jokic. “He’s someone that sees the floor, and I think he likes just the fact that if you can just throw it anywhere and I’ll go get it.”

Gordon’s dunks shook Nuggets backup center DeAndre Jordan, who was one of the best dunkers of his generation. Aside from riling the bench up, the contributions which resulted in 16 points and nine rebounds got Jamal Murray jumping. The Blue Arrow himself was busy hyping up Watson and adding 19 points, eight assists and six rebounds.

A collection of the Nuggets crew who feeds off the crowd, which was full of Boston fans on Thursday.

“It was a playoff atmosphere for sure, you gotta get the Celtics fans credit,” Malone said. “But you know what we say? They can take that L’ of the way out baby.”

The Nuggets machine is predictable yet ever-changing. It’s centered around the greatest center in a long time and yet it’s somehow both a calculated formula and superfluous. And that’s why Jokic can walk to 32 points, 12 rebounds and 11 assists on 18 shots with no turnovers even against a squad the basketball world is ready to crown the champs.

So no, it wasn’t the Celtics and their stars on national TV, it was Jokic’s late-game poise that again brought the Nuggets one step closer to winning something part of the team’s current crux.