At Ball Arena, the reigning champs defeated the Celtics 115-109, causing them to lose their first back-to-back games since November. Even though the Celtics had a golden opportunity to go ahead with 40 seconds remaining on the clock, Jayson Tatum’s three-point attempt was unsuccessful, and Denver went on to lead the Celtics for the majority of the game.

From the very beginning, the game had a playoff vibe as the Nuggets and Celtics sought to prevent a two-game losing streak following their respective painful losses on Tuesday night.

Throughout the game, Boston’s Jaylen Brown was unstoppable. Brown started the game with 22 points and 8 rebounds, and he finished with a career-high 41 points (16-29 FG), 13 boards, 4 assists, and 3 steals. But the Celtics shot just 16-25 from outside the arc, and he had a particularly rough day, connecting on just 7 of 14 free throw tries.The Celtics were unable to find a defensive solution to Denver’s Nikola Jokic, who led the team all game long with 32 points, 11 assists, and 12 rebounds.

The two-time MVP was difficult for Kristaps Porzingis to stop. Aaron Gordon had a solid game, contributing 16 points (8–15 FG) and 9 rebounds, as well as making clutch plays in the final minutes. Even though he turned the ball over five times, Jamal Murray scored nineteen points on seven-for-18 shooting.

Kristaps Porzingis scored 24 points on 9-23 FG, although he missed multiple midrange shots that are typically automatic. The rest of the Boston team, with the exception of Brown, had fairly inefficient games.

Even though he committed five turnovers, Jayson Tatum only managed fifteen points (5-13 FG) and eight assists.

“I thought he was just taking what the defense gave him,” Joe Mazzulla said after the game when asked about Tatum’s performance. “Jaylen was outstanding in that game.”

The Celtics bench scored a meager 10 points, with 6 points from Sam Hauser, 2 from Payton Pritchard, and 2 from Al Horford, while Derrick White managed just 7 points on 3-8 shooting.

For the first time in a very long game, the Celtics found themselves down double digits entering the final session. Their deficit grew to eight points before halftime and ten points entering the final frame. They had several chances to close the gap in the fourth quarter, but they couldn’t get past the first hurdle. With one minute remaining, Jrue Holiday (who finished the game with twelve points) made back-to-back three-pointers to cut the lead to two.

With fifty seconds remaining in the game, the Celtics had an opportunity to grab the lead after Jaylen Brown stole the ball from Jamal Murray. However, Jayson Tatum’s attempt to shoot a corner three from far out was unsuccessful. Finally, the Nuggets took the lead thanks to an alley-oop cut between Nikola Jokic and Aaron Gordon.The game was a tense affair from start to finish, with four technical fouls called: one in the first quarter against Jaylen Brown, one in the second quarter against Kristaps Porzingis, and two in the fourth quarter against the Nuggets.

Even thоugh the Celtics were unable tо cоmplete a fоurth-quarter cоmeback, Mazzulla cоmmented after the game that he appreciated Tatum’s play in the final minutes and mentiоned that Bоstоn had thirteen оffensive rebоunds.

As both the team’s current situation and areas for improvement, Mazzulla expressed satisfaction with both.

The Celtics’ road trip drops to 0-2 after the setback. They’ll travel to Phoenix on Saturday night for a potential opportunity to win again.