All good things must come to an end. The Boston Celtics snapped the Denver Nuggets’ winning streak at eight Sunday afternoon by a final score of 105-87. The starters came out hot again, but the bench gave an extra poor performance. Twice the starters built a comfortable lead only for it to evaporate when the second unit checked in. Jamal Murray missed a fourth straight game with right knee soreness, Michael Porter Jr. couldn’t find the net, and the second unit couldn’t hold onto the ball.

Let’s go the grades:

Nikola Jokić – B+

Jokić didn’t score much but dominated the first half all the same as Denver’s quarterback. He recorded 11 assists on his way to yet another triple-double and helped Denver get out to a phenomenal start. Unfortunately, yet another game came and went without anything close to a fair whistle for the NBA’s most valuable player. He looked particularly frustrated in the fourth quarter — understandably so — and turned his attention to the officials. However justified he may be in his frustration, the reality is that he doesn’t help his teammates with the task at hand. Malone opted to sit Jokić in the final minutes after the game had all but officially gotten away from them. After the loss, Malone addressed the decision:

“We’re in the middle of six games in nine days. We play again tomorrow night. We weren’t getting much traction,” Malone said. He eventually clarified the decision was “mostly” about getting Jokić some rest, but not before adding this:

“He gets frustrated with the referees…and you understand that, but that can never take you away from your duty as a basketball player.”

Michael Porter Jr. – C+

Porter took a whopping 23 shots Sunday. On the one hand, a sizable handful of them looked rushed and ill-advised. On the other, he’ll probably never shoot 1/12 from three again in his life, and if some of those go down, we might be talking about another strong performance from him. For better or worse, he gave himself the green light Sunday.

Another angle on Porter’s night: for however poorly he shot the ball, the starters put their team in a position to win more than once. The bench threw this game away before Porter failed to save it in the fourth.

Will Barton III – C 

Barton took the third-most shots on the Murray-less Nuggets, which is both expected and acceptable. He just wasn’t that efficient. Barton finished 4/11 from the field, and while he did record three assists, he turned it over twice. Additionally, Barton was on the court with the second unit as a big lead slipped through their fingers like sand in the second half.

Aaron Gordon – C+

Gordon rebounded well and helped keep Jayson Tatum in check during the first half. With momentum slipping away in the second half, however, Gordon had a chance to swing the tide with some strong one-on-one defense on Tatum. Boston was taking over, Tatum was heating up, and Denver needed a stop. Tatum blew right by him for the tomahawk dunk. Ultimately, it was an underwhelming performance from a player who is more of a cherry on top than a fail-safe in these situations.

Facundo Campazzo – A

The source of joy on an otherwise frustrating afternoon, Campazzo may have just played the best game of his NBA career. He finished with 14 points on 5/6, including 3/3 from deep, while adding 3 rebounds and 4 assists. The threes were huge. His passes were gorgeous. And, of course, his energy never waned regardless of how the game flowed. Boston also opted not to attack him on the other end. Without the mismatch hunting, Campazzo played some impressive defense. You can blame just about anyone but him today if you feel so inclined. He came out ready to win.

Monte Morris – C

One game removed from his best performance of the season, Morris struggled with his shot. He hit just 1/6 from the field and only recorded two assists. In his defense, good luck playing floor general for some of the lineups we saw Sunday. He’s also playing good defense of late.

PJ Dozier – C

We can start with the positives for Dozier, who’s done a better job of cutting himself off with the ball in his hands lately. He’s trying less, which is a good sign. Ok, now for the negatives: on a night when no one in the second unit found success, Dozier posted a team worse -30. Does that mean he was the worst player Sunday? Of course not. But it’s hard to argue he made a winning impact.

JaMychal Green – D-

JaMychal Green is not a good fouler. It’s never subtle, it’s never well-timed, and sometimes his opponent gets the shot up anyway. He struggled mightily in his 14:19 on the court, shooting just 1/6 from the field and committing five personal fouls. It’s hard to say whether he or Millsap played a worse game, and it’s a lot easier to wonder how McGee might have fared — especially with the benefit of hindsight.

Paul Millsap – D-

Millsap played a terrible game Sunday afternoon. He couldn’t hit a shot, nor could he defend anyone in his roughly 12 minutes of playing time. The Millsap-Green pairing isn’t working out, although the Nuggets appear keen on making it so. I don’t think these issues will rear their ugly heads much in the playoffs, but for the time being, JaVale McGee was available and probably should have seen the floor in this one. Malone will likely continue tinkering with the bench down the stretch. Buckle up for that now.

Zeke Nnaji – C

Malone turned to an all bench lineup when he subbed Zeke Nnaji in during the first half. Morris – Dozier – Nnaji – Millsap – Green played alongside each other with suboptimal results. Nnaji had a very nice possession on defense, but he also shot 0/3 from the field and grabbed just one rebound in eight minutes and change.