The Denver Nuggets came into their Monday night matchup with the Boston Celtics at the Pepsi Center in downtown Denver looking to build upon the best start since the 1974-75 when the Nuggets were still called the Rockets and played in the ABA.
After beating lesser teams, the Nuggets were attempting to prove to the rest of the National Basketball Association that they can hand with the league’s best. The Celtics represented that challenge and Denver met that challenge head on. After trailing by as many as 16 points in the first quarter, Denver fought back and carried a lead into the fourth quarter; a lead they held onto until the final buzzer as Denver secured their ninth win of the season by a score of 115-107.
The first quarter started out with the Nuggets offense being bogged down and their defense struggling leading to Nuggets head coach Michael Malone taking a timeout after just 2:44 of game time. He inserted Juancho Hernangomez and the floor was immediately better spaced leading to ten quick points from Jamal Murray. Those were the only minutes that Craig played as Malone elected to shorten his rotation and play Juancho Hernangomez in his place for the remainder of the matchup.
Unfortunately, Murray’s scoring output was cancelled out by his less-than-stellar point guard play in the first quarter. He had three turnovers in the first seven minutes of the game and it led directly to six points for the Celtics, who were running an offense clinic against Denver.
The Celtics lead was as large as 16 points and, by the end of the first quarter, the Nuggets trailed 34-19.
Once the second quarter began, Denver’s bench unit once again began to pick up the slack. Mason Plumlee led the charge defensively and Monte Morris continued to put his teammates in advantageous positions. Denver was able to get a couple shots to fall and cut the lead to single digits. Suddenly, a dog fight of a game emerged between two of the best teams in the NBA.
From there, Murray became the human version of a flamethrower and almost single-handidly carried the Nuggets back into the game. He finished with 23 points in the first half on 10-14 shooting including three made three-pointers. By the time halftime arrived, Denver had climbed back within two points by a score of 56-54.
The third quarter started with Malone making a lineup change. Torrey Craig, who had been starting in place of Will Barton since his injury, was taken out of the starting five and replaced with Hernangomez. The move paid immediate dividends with Hernangomez hitting a three-point shot and getting a massive block on Gordon Hayward in the first two minutes of the second half. Hernangomez was playing hyper-active defense and filled in as the starting small forward admirably.
With Hernangomez in the starting lineup, the Nuggets offense was suddenly humming once again. Jokic was able to toss around passes from the high post and the painted area was suddenly vacated instead of congested. When Craig was starting, his defender did not need to guard him out to the three-point line and it led to the Nuggets playing four on five offensively. With Hernangomez, all of the high-level passing and altruistic style of play came back in a big way and it allowed the Nuggets to take the lead and extend it.
For the rest of the third quarter, it was the Nuggets and Celtics trading blows like two heavyweight fighters in a title fight. Kyrie Irving was making impossible shot after impossible shot, but Denver continued to gobble up offensive rebounds giving them the extra possessions they needed to keep pace. For every tough bucket that the Celtics were able to make, the Nuggets had an answer just as they have all season.
The Nuggets bench unit finished the third quarter with the same type of play that has made them such a weapon for Denver. They played tough defense and Morris continued to make incredible decisions play after play. Morris helped Denver take a lead of 88-81 into the fourth and final quarter against Boston after trailing by as many as 16 points.
Denver kept their foot stomped down on the accelerator to begin the final quarter of the game. Trey Lyles hit his third three-point shot of the game and Denver’s defense continued to play a stingy brand of basketball. The bench unit gave the starting group a six-point lead to work with as Jokic entered the game with just under ten minutes remaining.
That is when Denver turned up the intensity on both ends of the court as they have done so often in the fourth quarter. When the pressure of the game rises, so does Denver’s urgency. Murray came alive once again as he hit back-to-back three pointers before heading to half court and unloading one of the most emphatic blue arrows of his career and screaming out to the Nuggets crowd. It was that three-pointer that tied his career-high in points and it was the next pull-up midrange jumper that gave Murray his first career 40-point game.
From there, Murray kept on the gas and continued to just flat-out outshoot the entire Celtics team. He refused to let Denver lose the game as his aggression set the tone. There was nothing that the Celtics defense could do to slow him as he attacked the rim with reckless abandon and was hitting three-pointers at will. Murray’s bombardment carried the Nuggets to their night win of the season as he finished with a career-high 48 points on 19-30 shooting and had five three pointers made. By the time Murray’s onslaught had ended, the Nuggets won 115-107.
The Nuggets head to Memphis next to take on the Grizzlies at the FedEx Forums on Wednesday night at 6pm MST as the look to keep their winning streak intact.