The Denver Nuggets once again came roaring back in the fourth quarter, ultimately to fall short yet again to the Boston Celtics. Boston defeated Denver 104-100, notching the Nuggets their fourth straight loss in a row and second loss to the Celtics this season. Denver showed some improvements, dominating the paint for once, outscoring the Celtics 48-34 in the paint and protecting the paint on their end, recording six blocks as team. The Nuggets also did a phenomenal job of getting the foul line, shooting 30-33(91%) from the charity strike and record 14 offensive rebounds, most of which came in the fourth quarter.
The Nuggets also got good production from their starting front court, Jusuf Nurkic and Kenneth Faried combined for 31 points, 18 rebounds and four blocks on 10-15 shooting from the field. Unfortunately for Denver, Brian Shaw elected to only play the Bosnian 21 minutes in this game, even though he had 14 points and only two fouls. The Nuggets did most of their damage in the fourth quarter, going on a 22-12 run to tie the game up at 100. Denver was active on the defensive end for the most part as well, scoring 18 points off 13 Celtics turnovers. Ty Lawson was phenomenal all game as well for the team, consistently attacking the rim and getting the team to play up tempo. Lawson finished with 23 points and eight assists, on 60% shooting from the field.
Denver once again though, was dominated from the three point line by Boston. The Celtics shot 43% from beyond the arc, making 12 three's and allowing Denver to only shoot 17% from downtown. The Nuggets now in their last seven games, have made 53-172(31%) of their three point attempts. The Celtics outscored Denver 35-22 in the second quarter, shooting a bonkers 7-8 from beyond the arc during the quarter. Denver's second unit also wasn't great, getting outscored by Boston's bench 53-20 and shot only 24% from the field.
In the third quarter the Nuggets gave up multiple offensive rebounds to the Celtics, in total Boston was able to get 19 offensive rebounds in the game. The Nuggets allowed the Celtics to convert on second chances, primarily from three and it ultimately cost them. Lastly, Denver committed two costly turnovers on two separate in-bounds plays, down the stretch of the fourth quarter and it cost them two very important possessions. The Nuggets are now 19-31 on the season, 7-18 on the road and have lost 11 of their last 12 games.
