Boston Celtics breeze past turnover prone Denver Nuggets

The Denver Nuggets could not overcome a sluggish start and lazy ball handling as the opportunistic Boston Celtics extended their winning streak to four games with a 111-103 victory. The Celtics were two steps ahead of the Nuggets all night long, like a Wade Phillips defense against a Josh McDaniels offense, pressuring the Nuggets into forced shots and sloppy passes throughout. The Nuggets showed some pride by fighting back each time the Celtics pulled away, but they had dug themselves too deep a hole to overcome.

When/Where

Wednesday, Jan. 27, 2016 at TD Garden – Boston, MA

Star of the Game

Danilo Gallinari – Gallo scored 23 points on 8-16 shooting, hit 6-7 free throws and pulled down seven rebounds. He only had two points in the fourth quarter, but was the only Nuggets player consistently able to get to the basket through the first three quarters. His aggressive play (he was only 1-4 from three) was especially evident on this fancy, Euro-step scoop shot in the first half.

Turning Point

Will Barton hit a jumper to cut the lead to five points with just over two minutes left in the third quarter, but Boston would go on an 11-1 run to close out the third, then a 7-0 run to start the fourth, giving them plenty of room to whether a couple of Nuggets’ runs in the fourth and cruise to a relatively easy win.

First Half Turnovers

The Celtics racked up 11 steals in the first half, leading to 15 Nuggets turnovers and 15 points for Boston, compared to just two steals and eight points off of turnovers for the Nuggets. The Celtics shot under 40 percent for the half, so the turnovers and resulting buckets for Boston dug Denver into a deep hole. The Nuggets finished with 20 turnovers on 15 Celtics steals, leading to 20 points off of the turnovers for Boston. They settled down in the second half, but the damage had been done and the Nuggets will have to come out of the gate a lot more focused to have any success on this road trip.

Points in the Paint

Denver was determined to get points in the paint, but the Celtics made it tough early on. Things would open up for the Nuggets eventually, but as you can see from their first quarter shot chart, there were plenty of misses from in close. These are shots the Nuggets need to make, or at least draw contact on if they’re going to have any success in a given game.

Kenneth Faried was the best big on the floor by a good margin tonight for Denver scoring 15 points, nabbing 15 rebounds and even adding four assists. In addition, he had a number of monster dunks like this:

Harris Building Confidence

Gary Harris was quietly effective on a night where he hit only 1-4 on 3-point attempts. He finished with 15 points on 4-7 shooting, 6-6 from the line, seven rebounds, two steals and a number of near steals. Harris is finding a comfortable role with the team, but at times it looks almost too comfortable. Harris has the ability to take over games offensively, but he still defers to his more aggressive teammates too often. I’d like to see Harris get out of his comfort zone and look to take over a game on a night when Gallo doesn’t have it going.

Plays of the Game

Will Barton once again has the play of the game with this acrobatic, and-1 lay in:

Quote of the Game

Boston’s got its tentacles all around the Nuggets’ largely inept offense and is strangling it to death like a sea creature.

— Hardwood Paroxysm (@HPbasketball) January 28, 2016

Lasting Impact

Nikola Jokic had to leave the game in the second half with a right tibia bone bruise, but Altitude reports that it doesn’t look too serious and the Nuggets consider him day-to-day. Darrell Arthur also didn’t play in the second half with a sore quadricep, according to Nate Timmons. The Nuggets remain snugly between the 8th seed and second-to-last place in the Western Conference. With two more East Coast games in the next three nights, they’ll need to re-energize quickly to make any sort of noise before the All-Star break.

Up Next

Thursday, January 28 @ Washington Wizards, 5:00 p.m. MST

The Wizards are coming off of back-to-back blowout losses, going down 116-91 at home to the Celtics and dropping another one the next night 106-89 in Toronto to the Raptors.