If Thursday was an NBA Finals preview, the Denver Nuggets are trying fairly good.
Nikola Jokic led Denver to a 115-109 win over the Boston Celtics in a marquee matchup between the NBA’s defending champions and the homeowners of the league’s prime report, sweeping the season sequence within the course of.
It was a ordinary night time on the workplace for Jokic, with 32 factors on 11-of-18 taking pictures, 12 rebounds, 11 assists and one turnover. The MVP candidate gave the impression to be coping with an elbow harm for a few of the sport, however was nonetheless orchestrating a powerful night time on offense towards the NBA’s No. 2 staff in defensive effectivity.
The Celtics led for a lot of the primary quarter, till a fast 9-2 run on the finish gave the Nuggets a lead they by no means gave again. Boston got here shut, although. The Celtics tied the sport at factors within the third quarter and shortened a double-digit result in simply two factors within the ultimate two minutes of the sport.
Jokic and Gordon responded by doing this with 20 seconds left:
Someway, that wasn’t even the wildest dunk of the sport. Or the second-wildest.
There was this almost derailed dunk in transition by Peyton Watson:
After which Gordon supplied a reminder he most likely ought to have gained a Dunk Contest or two.
Jaylen Brown would have been the hero on the Celtics’ facet, with 42 factors on 16-of-27 taking pictures with 13 rebounds, 4 assists and three steals. It wasn’t sufficient to offset Jayson Tatum scoring solely 14 factors. Boston additionally completed 11-of-37 from 3-point vary.
The win strikes the 43-20 Nuggets solely a sport behind the Minnesota Timberwolves for the highest seed within the West, with the Oklahoma Metropolis Thunder in between them at a half-game again of first.