Celtics Review - Game 21
Matchup - Denver Nuggets
Results - 108-95 (W)
Record - (16-5)
This was another game where I was lucky enough to be in attendance. I was super excited, too, because we were facing a good team. I was expecting to see a good game where it came down to the wire… boy was I wrong. It was clear from the start that we were just the better team last night. In the first quarter, Nikola Jokic was the only offense the Nuggets had. No one else could get a shot to go, and while Jokic managed to keep it somewhat close, you can’t stay in basketball games when only one person can score. On top of that, we were just on fire. Jaylen Brown had a great first half and we managed to actually shoot the ball pretty well from the field.
By the time it got to the second quarter, the game started to get out of hand. The Celtics were just making every shot that they took, and the Nuggets started to slowly stop doing anything. They took 30 threes on the night, and only made 5 of them. That’s a whopping 16.7% from behind the arc. That’s a number I’d usually expect from the Celtics in the first half of the game. Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown were just on fire in this one. At the end of the half, Brown got an outlet pass and slammed it home with a monster dunk. The Garden went berserk and it was as loud as I’ve ever heard it. Then, after we managed to get a stop with less than 10 seconds left on the clock, Tatum dribbled the ball up to half court. He did his normal crossover moves, stepped back, and drained a three in the defenders face. Tatum danced away and the crowd got even louder. It was electric.
So, a few days ago, I talked about what it would take for the perfect storm to occur. This was it, or as close as we’re ever going to get. The Celtics could have maybe shot a tad better from three, but 37.1% as a team is not bad at all. We shot over 50% from the field, played stifling defense, and were blowing out one of the best teams in the league up until garbage time. For all these reasons, my Ouch Award today isn’t going to be going to a player. Aside from that, I was just super happy to see that this team has the potential to play this well in a game. It gave me serious hope that we could make a real run in the playoffs this year. The Nuggets are a good team, but we just proved that we can be better.
Ouch Award - My Drunk Friend
So, I’m not going to name names, but one of my buddies that I went to the game with got a little bit too intoxicated. He had this blank expression on his face the entire time we were there, and even managed to spill my other friend’s beer. He was not a happy camper. Before that even happened though, the highlight of the night occurred. My drunk friend and other friend went to go use the bathroom, and as he was going down the stairs, he just completely wiped out. I mean his feet just completely came out from under him and he fell straight on his ass. It was maybe the funniest thing I’ve ever seen happen in person. I’m just glad he managed to get home okay.
Love of my Life Award - Jayson Tatum
Tatum looked as confident as ever in this one, and I think I can guess why. Yesterday was his son Duece’s 2nd birthday. No wonder he was playing out of his mind. Tatum only scored 26 points, which is amazing, but with the way he was playing you would’ve thought he dropped over 30 with ease. He just couldn’t miss. Step back threes, reverse driving layups, you name it and it was going in. When he made that shot at halftime and danced away, you could just tell that he was totally in his element. Jayson Tatum looked like a superstar last night, and I bet there’s plenty more of that to come.
