During this rather calm first evening of the weekend in the NBA, with very few big posters, this Celtics – Nuggets in Boston is clearly the most enticing duel, since it is a meeting between two heavyweights of their respective conference, holders of the same record (8-3) and both on a series of four victories.
However, the reality was quite different since the game went one way, that of the Celtics. In front at the break (66-57), after having counted up to 18 points in advance, the troop of “Beantown” was never worried and finally imposed by 19 points, after having widened its gap in endgame (131-112).
As often, it was the duo Jayson Tatum (34 points, 8 rebounds and 5 assists) – Jaylen Brown (25 points, 8 rebounds and 8 assists) who carried the Celtics, generally very effective in attack under the impetus of their duo of “Jay’s”, especially in the exercise of outside shooting (16/37, 43.2%). Opposite, a Nikola Jokic faithful to himself (29 points, 8 rebounds and 3 assists), as usual, even if a little lonely in attack. The Nuggets were pretty serious on defense, but simply overwhelmed by the relentless waves of attack from the TD Garden residents.
Boston offers a fifth victory in a row and secures its place on the podium of the East a little more, while Denver, despite the defeat, remains in ambush behind the duo Utah – Portland, with Memphis and Phoenix.
WHAT YOU MUST REMEMBER
– Payton Pritchard resurfaced. Shelved this season by Joe Mazzulla (4 games played, for 7.3 minutes), the substitute point guard for the Celtics had a rare opportunity to show himself, largely because the game was folded long minutes before the final buzzer. But no matter, these minutes are necessarily good for the former Oregon, who has been trying to maintain confidence without any rhythm for three weeks. In 16 minutes, he compiled 11 points (5/6) and 5 assists.
– The correctness of the attack of the Celtics. The Celtics haven’t always been very consistent on defense this season, but they’re still doing damage on offense. Proof of this is that they had the best offensive rating in the entire league before this meeting (118.5 points out of 100 possessions). And after this, the finding is unchanged: 131 points at 55.6% on shots (43.2% from behind the arc), 30 assists for only 5 ball losses. The C’s chain the “masterclass” in attack, and the victories follow logically.
TOPS/FLOPS
✅ The “Jay’s”. Successful evening for Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown, as so often. The two wingers compiled 59 points (but also 16 rebounds and 13 assists) to guide their team to victory, with quite honorable efficiency (22/36 to two). ” It’s their job, it’s what they do in your defense every night. And we did nothing to try to stop them » then regretted the Denver coach, Mike Malone. We note in particular a very good first half, sober and effective st especially difficult to maneuver for the defense of Denver. Until his 11th shot in the third quarter, missed, Jaylen Brown was also on the basis of a perfect evening, 10/10 on shots.
✅ Nikola Jokic. Very strong, but a little lonely. Here is a good summary of the evening of the “Joker”, complete during this part even if its +/- of -14 is not very flattering, in particular because of a suspicious defense. While the match quickly turned sour for Denver, the Serbian pivot played less than half an hour, certainly to preserve himself without delay for the next deadline.
⛔️ Michael Porter Jr.. Match to forget for the Denver winger, too obsessed with the attack, a little less with his defensive assignments. Apart from 4 defensive rebounds, his contribution was particularly weak: 7 points at 3/10 (1/6 at 3-pts). Logically, his +/- was affected: -24, the worst of the match.
THE FOLLOWING
Celtics : “back-to-back” in Detroit (01:00)
nuggets : trip to Chicago, overnight from Sunday to Monday (02:00)
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