Nuggets (28-14) at Celtics (32-9) Game #42 1/19/24

[liam]

Wow, BOS had only 2 turnovers tonight. No wonder they were able to get away with their bad shooting and keep the game close. DEN only had 9 turnovers themselves. So that is 7 extra possessions for BOS. We were +8 in FGA.

DEN only shot 25.8% from three as well on 31 attempts. Helped keep the game close despite the Jays bad shooting night.

We lost because of offense tonight.

[jpotter33]

Wow, BOS had only 2 turnovers tonight. No wonder they were able to get away with their bad shooting and keep the game close. DEN only had 9 turnovers themselves. So that is 7 extra possessions for BOS. We were +8 in FGA.

DEN only shot 25.8% from three as well on 31 attempts. Helped keep the game close despite the Jays bad shooting night.

That’s because they actually play smart offensive basketball and don’t have an incompetent coach with an extreme, dogmatic offensive philosophy.

They’re an awful defensive team with two to three atrocious defenders in their starting lineup, yet they play much smarter ball and are able to get away with it due to being disciplined.

[tenn_smoothie]

It would be real interesting to see Tatum's shooting % in important games, regular season and playoffs, since the team was essentially handed over to him and Brown three seasons ago. You would have to define "important games", but that would be fairly easy to agree on. Just game by game stat lines for Tatum (and Brown for that matter) for these defined games only.

[Indocelts]

It would be real interesting to see Tatum's shooting % in important games, regular season and playoffs, since the team was essentially handed over to him and Brown three seasons ago. You would have to define "important games", but that would be fairly easy to agree on. Just game by game stat lines for Tatum (and Brown for that matter) for these defined games only.

Actually I would like to know Tatum's shooting % of the important shots he took this season (last  shots of the game) where win or lose depend on them, in regular or OT.
A superstar may shoot poorly during the game but he can always redeem himself when he makes the last shot to win the game.
I just don't think Tatum is clutch this season.

[angryguy77]

It would be real interesting to see Tatum's shooting % in important games, regular season and playoffs, since the team was essentially handed over to him and Brown three seasons ago. You would have to define "important games", but that would be fairly easy to agree on. Just game by game stat lines for Tatum (and Brown for that matter) for these defined games only.

Actually I would like to know Tatum's shooting % of the important shots he took this season (last  shots of the game) where win or lose depend on them, in regular or OT.
A superstar may shoot poorly during the game but he can always redeem himself when he makes the last shot to win the game.
I just don't think Tatum is clutch this season.

You would think Joe would use the reg season to show other teams jt isn't always going to be the guy. There's no effort to make the other teams guess.

The problems this teams has are not deep, they're just caused by stupidity and ego.

[liam]

We've had the hardest strength of schedule so far this year so I'll gladly take being 32-10.

[libermaniac]

Choke job. Team can’t get out of its own way in games that actually mean anything.
Big game against the defending champs and a legit contender and your “stars” lay an absolute egg in a winnable game

Oh come on. Ultimately it’s a game of chance. They played tough and had tons of open looks that didn’t fall. Why does every loss need to be a choke job? Shots just didn’t fall. Simple as that.

[angryguy77]

Choke job. Team can’t get out of its own way in games that actually mean anything.
Big game against the defending champs and a legit contender and your “stars” lay an absolute egg in a winnable game

Oh come on. Ultimately it’s a game of chance. They played tough and had tons of open looks that didn’t fall. Why does every loss need to be a choke job? Shots just didn’t fall. Simple as that.

Praying we shoot better from 3 leaves too much to chance.

 D'Antoni was Joe before there was a Joe. It didn't work for Houston and I doubt, sans a miracle, it will.work for us.

I'm sure wyc and his partners just love seeing their luxury tax is paying for a team to conduct a 3pt contest every night.

[kraidstar]

Major choke. We were the better team but found a way to lose. Denver can't guard us and yet we failed to get smart shots when it counted.

Pretty pathetic.

[SparzWizard]

Choke job. Team can’t get out of its own way in games that actually mean anything.
Big game against the defending champs and a legit contender and your “stars” lay an absolute egg in a winnable game

Oh come on. Ultimately it’s a game of chance. They played tough and had tons of open looks that didn’t fall. Why does every loss need to be a choke job? Shots just didn’t fall. Simple as that.

Praying we shoot better from 3 leaves too much to chance.

 D'Antoni was Joe before there was a Joe. It didn't work for Houston and I doubt, sans a miracle, it will.work for us.

I'm sure wyc and his partners just love seeing their luxury tax is paying for a team to conduct a 3pt contest every night.

I just don't get how people don't see this as a choke job but more as the 3's weren't falling or shots weren't making. This team was up 8 or 9 points in the 4th quarter and they blew it. They needa play smart basketball including ball control, BOXING OUT, and ball movement. Stop relying on too much 3's and ISOs.

[scaryjerry]

Choke job. Team can’t get out of its own way in games that actually mean anything.
Big game against the defending champs and a legit contender and your “stars” lay an absolute egg in a winnable game

Oh come on. Ultimately it’s a game of chance. They played tough and had tons of open looks that didn’t fall. Why does every loss need to be a choke job? Shots just didn’t fall. Simple as that.

Eh, no. If it was some fluke loss to some non contender I would go with your theory but this was a big game against the defending champs and we simply found a way to lose while our best players got the deer in headlights look like they were playing the warriors in the finals again. Straight up choke

[scaryjerry]

We've had the hardest strength of schedule so far this year so I'll gladly take being 32-10.

Sure. Really good team but ultimately all the same problems that have been their downfall for seasons still exist and they have one of the worst 3 coaches in the league…they can go ahead and runaway with the best record but if those things don’t change they’re in big trouble when it matters

[jambr380]

Choke job. Team can’t get out of its own way in games that actually mean anything.
Big game against the defending champs and a legit contender and your “stars” lay an absolute egg in a winnable game

Oh come on. Ultimately it’s a game of chance. They played tough and had tons of open looks that didn’t fall. Why does every loss need to be a choke job? Shots just didn’t fall. Simple as that.

Eh, no. If it was some fluke loss to some non contender I would go with your theory but this was a big game against the defending champs and we simply found a way to lose while our best players got the deer in headlights look like they were playing the warriors in the finals again. Straight up choke

Yeah, this is worrisome to me, too. It's not that we lost a game that we didn't really care about; we really cared about this one and played our worst ball when it mattered most.

And I know that Jrue has been playing better lately, but MIL fans may be right about his performance in games that matter.

[scaryjerry]

Choke job. Team can’t get out of its own way in games that actually mean anything.
Big game against the defending champs and a legit contender and your “stars” lay an absolute egg in a winnable game

Oh come on. Ultimately it’s a game of chance. They played tough and had tons of open looks that didn’t fall. Why does every loss need to be a choke job? Shots just didn’t fall. Simple as that.

Eh, no. If it was some fluke loss to some non contender I would go with your theory but this was a big game against the defending champs and we simply found a way to lose while our best players got the deer in headlights look like they were playing the warriors in the finals again. Straight up choke

Yeah, this is worrisome to me, too. It's not that we lost a game that we didn't really care about; we really cared about this one and played our worst ball when it mattered most.

And I know that Jrue has been playing better lately, but MIL fans may be right about his performance in games that matter.

Hopefully I’m wrong but this team when the playoffs hit will once again go 7 games with lesser teams in the first couple rounds and then get the jitters and lose in the ecf or finals. All the pressure is gonna be on them, they’re gonna be clear favorites with the best record in the league. Cool. Real teams don’t fear us.

[Surferdad]

This game, like so many games lately, reinforces in my mind that the team needs another big body up front. Switching from KP to Horford guarding Jokic was somewhat effective, but Jokic adjusted and wore him down. The team still needs another body to throw at Jokic/Embiid/Giannis, as well as to manage the restrictions on availability of KP and Horford.