Nikola Jokic-less Nuggets fight hard but fall to champion Celtics
Jan 7, 2025, 10:36 PM
DENVER—Without their three-time NBA MVP, the Denver Nuggets were tasked with topping the league’s reigning champion Boston Celtics and the Mile High City crew got close but fell 118-106.
Nikola Jokic felt sick at Monday’s Nuggets practice then hit the injury report early Tuesday. The Nuggets said he tried to give it a go but he walked out of the arena about an hour before tipoff.
Led by a barrage of three-point shooting the deep balls nearly led the Nuggets to an upset over the NBA’s best long-range team. Nobody takes or makes more from behind the arc than the Celtics (27-10), yet the Nuggets (20-15)—who are third in the league in three-point percentage—more than kept pace. The Nuggets nailed 14 of 36 attempts, to the Celtics 12 of 35 from deep.
Denver got the game knotted to finish the first half after once being down 15. The Nuggets didn’t let go of the rope a bit in the third quarter. And the fourth was all C’s, outscoring the home team 30-23, thanks to a 15-0 run exploding the visitors lead from a tie at 93.
“He’s a three-time MVP, a Finals MVP, and we don’t have the best player in the world playing, we’re a different team,” Michael Malone said postgame. “But it doesn’t mean you don’t fight. That doesn’t mean you don’t compete, and our guys did that tonight, and that’s all that I care about, is that we walk out of here, disappointed in the outcome, but not in the effort.”
The Nuggets made the push behind Russell Westbrook’s 26 points including four threes but his eight turnovers took away some of the shine—the Celtics scored 25 points off turnovers. Next to him in the backcourt, Jamal Muray went for 19 points. Michael Porter Jr. kept up his great play with a double-double of 15 points and 10 rebounds.
But it was the young bench guys who took the opportunity and ran. A few nights after guarding seven-foot freak Victor Wembanyama, Peyton Watson was tasked with another outside shooting oversized big in Kristaps Porziņgis. The third-year player did an admirable job all the while recording 14 points, four rebounds and four blocks. However, it was Julian Strawther’s spark of three triples and a season-high 19 points that might be the most positive sign moving forward for the Nuggets.
Denver is right back it on Wednesday, hosting the Los Angeles Clippers who just got former Finals MVP Kawhi Leonard back. Whether the Nuggets will have the former Finals MVP Jokic back from his illness is unknown, though it hasn’t been ruled out.
