The Boston Celtics earned a win on Tuesday night, rounding out their road trip with a 118-106 victory over the Denver Nuggets. Nikola Jokic was out for Denver, so the Celtics made the most of their size advantage, using Kristaps Porzingis as their lead offensive initiator. Jamal Murray was left to the wolves, and the Celtics threw multiple bodies at him.
All night long, Joe Mazzulla had the Celtics stunt over to put extra pressure on Murray. That left guys like Russell Westbrook and Julian Strawther to create offense for Boston. They did a fairly good job, and the Celtics’ three-point attack wasn’t great, but it didn’t matter.
On top of Porzingis’ interior presence, the Celtics made it a point to attack the glass.
Jamal Murray noted Kristaps Porzingis and Al Horford's rebounding
That's what hurt Denver the most.
“I think we’re just smaller,” Murray said via DNVR Sports. “We don’t have AG [Aaron Gordon]. And then when we switch or cross-match or whatever, it’s just a disadvantage one-on-one on the boards. So, I think it’s just a combination. But like I said, it’s good defense.
In the eyes of Murray, Porzingis, Al Horford, and the Celtics’ rebounding made the difference on Tuesday night.
“So, we force them into shots we want them to take or they miss a shot, and they get the ball again, and we got to guard again. It just made everything tough. To me, that was the difference in the game. We’re going to turn the ball over, they’re going to turn the ball over. We’re going to miss shots, they’re going t miss shots.
“But for me, it came down to rebounding. Because I was on the bench, and it looked like we were playing good defense, and then Porzingis tap dunk put-back, Horford back tap. Just the little stuff. Just the detail stuff. And that’s the name of the game. It’s part of the game. So, it’s not on one individual. We all got to come back and rebound, and it was just tough to grab tonight.”
Denver actually finished the game with more offensive rebounds than the Celtics. They grabbed 13 to the Celtics’ 11, but Boston made the most of theirs. They outscored the Nuggets 22 to 11 on second-chance opportunities.
Porzingis and Horford alone combined to snag seven offensive rebounds, while Payton Pritchard also chipped in with two of his own.
In a game where so many of the margins were close, that was enough to put the Celtics over the top.
