The Boston Celtics fell to the Denver Nuggets to make just the second losing streak this season

Despite their best attempts, the defending NBA champion Denver Nuggets managed to slip past the Boston Celtics in their highly anticipated away game. The Boston Celtics were not their usual selves. The Celtics’ offense was a bit of a mess, and they made poor defensive and ball handling decisions at crucial points in the game.

But a strong comeback from the Celtics would ultimately falter due to the team’s terrible free-throw shooting and some bad choices made in the closing seconds of the game. Particularly, star Boston forward Jayson Tatum had a poor performance, and it was evident after the game that the club was unhappy with how they performed in such a crucial match.

The hosts of “How Bout Them Celtics!” on CLNS Media podcast discussed it after the game for a while.

The Boston Celtics were narrowly defeated by the Denver Nuggets, the defending champions, for the second game this season.

The two titans squared up in what should be another exciting NBA Finals preview on Thursday. The Nuggets won 115-109 in front of their home fans to complete the season series sweep, despite the fact that it was fiercely contested for the majority of the game and came down to the wire.

The Celtics are now 48-14 on the season after suffering their second straight loss. They hadn’t dropped back-to-back games since November 6–8 previously.

With 41 points, Jaylen Brown handled the offensive load for Boston. On a bad night for the five-time All-Star, Kristaps Porzingis scored 24 points and pulled down 12 rebounds, while Jayson Tatum added 15 points.

After recording his 20th triple-double of the year with 32 points, 12 rebounds, and 11 assists for Denver, two-time MVP Nikola Jokic was as dominant as always. Jamal Murray contributed six rebounds, eight assists, and 19 points.

At 8:30 p.m. ET on Saturday, Boston continues its road trip against the Phoenix Suns (36-26). These are the first three lessons learned from Thursday’s match.

Celtics lose due to turnovers and free throws.
They will make you pay if you play carelessly against the defending champions. That was something the Celtics personally saw on Thursday night at Ball Arena.

A recurring element in Boston’s loss was poor passing. The C’s turned the ball over 12 times, a situation that the Nuggets exploited on multiple occasions due to the poor ball movement. Denver scored 19 fastbreak points and 16 points off turnovers. With five of the team’s twelve turnovers, Tatum was the main offender for the Celtics.

Boston had severe difficulties from the free-throw line as well. While Denver made an almost flawless 21-for-22 from the charity stripe, the squad was only 16 of 25.

Of his 14 attempts at free throws, Brown missed seven. That’s what made the Nuggets’ six-point victory different.

Brown, Jaylen carries C’s when attacking
For Thursday’s game, the three-time All-Star for the Celtics was almost not in the starting lineup. Due to a sacroiliac strain, Brown made the decision to sit out the injury at game time.

Boston might have been blown away without him. Aside from his troubles with the free throw, Brown was outstanding. In the first half, he scored 22 points (15 in the second quarter) and pulled down eight rebounds. In the C’s Jan. 19 loss to the Nuggets, he scored just 13 points.

He set a new career best with his six offensive rebounds on the evening, all of which came in the first half. According to Taylor Snow of Celtics.com, he also made history by being the first Celtic in history to record at least 22 points and six offensive rebounds in a half.