DENVER — Joe Mazzulla called one timeout. Then another. The third quarter ended. The fourth quarter began. None of the breaks could snap the Boston Celtics out of the funk they were experiencing Wednesday night during the second half of a 103-84 loss to the Denver Nuggets.
“For most of the third (quarter), we just weren’t really able to get anything going,” Derrick White said. “And then they were taking those misses and getting out in transition and getting layups.”
It was a painful way for the Celtics to end an otherwise productive road trip, but they seemed to shrug off the rough night. Though they had their least efficient offensive performance of the season, shooting just 34.9 percent from the field, Jaylen Brown said he believed his team actually got “a lot of great looks” during the game.
“Every night is an opportunity to learn,” Brown said. “So definitely some takeaways from tonight. They’re a good team. I thought we put ourselves in a good position. We’ve just got to convert. I thought we had a bunch of open looks, and we just got to stick ’em and trust our guys to shoot it confidently. And then also I think we gave them a couple more extra-chance points than we would have liked on the glass. But other than that, I thought we competed.”
The Celtics dominated the first three games of their road trip, beating the Golden State Warriors, Los Angeles Lakers and Phoenix Suns by 49 combined points. As well as they had been playing, the second leg of a back-to-back in Denver — at the end of a long Western Conference swing — counted as one of the most difficult games on their schedule. Even with Aaron Gordon sidelined by a hamstring issue and Jamal Murray (illness) leaving the game in the first half, the Nuggets are dangerous in the Denver altitude.
Fatigue seemed to trip up the Celtics late in the third quarter, when their defense, strong until that point, began to unravel. Mazzulla called a timeout with 1:27 left in the third after the Nuggets scored on three straight possessions with a dunk and two layups. Trailing 70-67, Mazzulla seemed to sense the game slipping away. His timeout did nothing to slow down the damage.
On the first possession out of the timeout, Nikola Vučević missed a layup and the Nuggets capitalized with a fast break the other way. Moments later, Nikola Jokić (30 points, 12 rebounds, six assists on 11-of-28 shooting) drained a 3-pointer to extend Denver’s lead to 75-67. Following a Brown turnover, K.J. Simpson slammed home a dunk to put the Celtics behind by 10. Boston then went scoreless over the first 1:57 of the fourth quarter as the Nuggets finished a 15-0 run.
“It was a combination of we missed shots, a combination of a couple live-ball turnovers, and then they got out in transition,” Mazzulla said. “I think half of (that) run came in transition, either off some of our missed shots, our missed rim reads, or just a turnover.”
The Celtics had some opportunities to cut into their deficit during the fourth quarter but repeatedly missed good looks. Mazzulla emptied the bench midway through the fourth quarter.
“Tough night shooting the ball,” Brown said. “Their physicality was pretty good tonight, but I thought we just didn’t convert on the offensive end. That kind of spilled over to defense a little bit.”
For the second straight game, only White could find a shooting rhythm in the first half. He scored 18 of his team’s 24 second-quarter points, including four 3-pointers. Outside of him, the rest of the Celtics shot a combined 3-of-18 on 3-point attempts during the first half. Yet thanks to a disciplined defensive effort that held Denver to 34 percent shooting from the field, Boston still led 48-47 at the break.
The Celtics had moved away from double-big lineups during recent games but returned to that look early in the first quarter against Jokić. With Vučević defending him, Neemias Queta was free to sag off 26.9 percent 3-point shooter Christian Braun. The strategy allowed Boston to position more help at the rim.
“Just continuing to build different identities that we have to have,” Mazzulla said. “Obviously, playing against a guy like Jokić, you have to have as much help behind as you can. So just continuing to develop different ways we can play. Some good stuff, and obviously some stuff we can work on.”
Nikola Jokić recovered from a slow start to score 15 points in the third quarter as the Nuggets put the Celtics away. (Jamie Schwaberow / Getty Images)
The Nuggets entered Wednesday ranked 22nd in offensive rebound rate, but the Celtics couldn’t keep them off the glass early. Even while shooting 33 percent in the first half, Denver stayed close by scoring 10 second-chance points on nine offensive rebounds over the first 18 minutes. The Nuggets also got to the free-throw line 11 times during the second quarter, finding ways to manufacture points even when they weren’t very efficient. Jokić missed a bunch of outside looks early but drained three triples while scoring 15 points in the third quarter as the Nuggets took command.
Late in that third quarter, the Celtics’ discipline — a constant on the rest of the road trip — disappeared. Brown and White were still encouraged by the 3-1 trip.
“We knew it was going to be a tough back-to-back,” said White. “I think we’re in a really good spot.”
Added Brown: “It would’ve been great to finish out strong on the road trip with a win. But 3-1 on a West Coast swing, coming straight out of All-Star break is not half-bad. We just gotta continue to get better little by little. I like where we’re at as a group. I think we’re playing some really good basketball. I think our guys have developed in areas that we continue to just push along. So we just gotta keep that up.”