DENVER (AP) — Generally, Nikola Jokic’s triple-double is as significant as it’s magical.
That was definitely the case Thursday evening when Jokic recorded his twentieth triple-double of the season and the Denver Nuggets withstood a livid fourth-quarter surge by Boston to beat the Celtics 115-109.
That gave the reigning NBA champs a sweep of their season sequence with the Jap Convention leaders.
Jokic had 32 factors, 12 rebounds and 11 assists, a number of of them on alley-oops to Aaron Gordon, who had 16 factors on seven dunks and a operating hook.
Jamal Murray added 19 factors and eight assists because the Nuggets improved to 7-1 for the reason that All-Star break.
It was Jokic’s thirtieth profession 30-point triple-double.
“He’s simply an unimaginable basketball participant,” Celtics heart Kristaps Porzingis mentioned. “Some issues I discovered from him at the moment, truly. He’s simply so good, so artful, so many stuff you don’t see that he does on the ground that helps that workforce win. It’s unimaginable. Everytime you overhelp just a bit bit, he’ll discover Gordon, he’ll discover all these guys. It speaks to how priceless he’s for them.”
Requested what precisely he had discovered, Porzingis mentioned, “a few methods he does, I’ll go away it at that.”
Possibly a few of that sorcery Porzingis was referencing needed to do with the Jokic-Gordon alley-oop sport that’s turning into as massive part of Denver’s crunch-time arsenal because the Jokic-Murray pick-and-roll.
Gordon’s finest dunk got here off a missed layup by Jokic with two minutes remaining. Gordon corralled the rebound along with his proper hand and windmilled it via the basket for a 109-103 lead.
“It was a nasty miss,” Jokic mentioned, “however an awesome dunk.”
The 2 teamed up for a game-sealing alley-oop with 20 seconds left after Jayson Tatum’s 3-pointer for the lead with 40 seconds remaining rimmed out.
Jaylen Brown scored a season-high 41 factors and had 14 rebounds for the Celtics, who hadn’t misplaced consecutive video games since early November. However Brown was simply 7 of 14 from the foul line.
“Possibly it’s the elevation,” Brown mentioned. “I felt nice capturing the ball.”
Boston missed 9 free throws general, whereas the Nuggets missed simply one in every of 22 foul pictures.
Porzingis added 24 factors and 12 rebounds for Boston, and Tatum had 15 on a tricky capturing evening.
The Nuggets’ bench outscored Boston’s reserves 28-10, led by Peyton Watson’s 11 factors and stellar perimeter protection.
Each groups have been coming off losses that ended lengthy profitable streaks. The Celtics’ 105-104 defeat at Cleveland on Tuesday snapped an 11-game run, and Denver’s 117-107 additional time loss to Phoenix halted the Nuggets’ six-game surge.
If these groups are barreling towards a collision within the NBA Finals in June, this was a tantalizing preview. Each coaches seen the showdown as one thing of a measuring stick heading into the house stretch, with Denver’s Michael Malone noting Boston’s NBA-best document and Celtics coach Joe Mazzulla calling the reigning champs the league’s benchmark.
The sport was all the pieces anticipated of two prime contenders.
Denver’s dynamic duo every had buzzer-beaters within the first half, with Murray sinking a 30-footer to finish the primary quarter and Jokic banking in a 12-foot shot with Porzingis in his face that gave Denver a 62-54 lead at halftime.
Boston shortly erased that deficit with a pair of 3s from Porzingis and a layup from Brown after the break, nonetheless.
“That workforce by no means goes away,” Malone mentioned.
UP NEXT
Celtics: Go to Phoenix on Saturday evening.
Nuggets: Host Utah on Saturday evening.
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AP NBA: https://apnews.com/hub/nba