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DENVER (AP) — Sometimes, Nikola Jokic’s triple-double is as meaningful as it is magical.
That was certainly the case Thursday night as Jokic recorded his 20th triple-double of the season and the Denver Nuggets withstood a furious fourth-quarter surge from Boston to beat the Celtics 115-109.
That gave the reigning NBA champions a sweep in their season series with the Eastern Conference leaders.
Jokic had 32 points, 12 rebounds and 11 assists, several of them on alley-oops for Aaron Gordon, who scored 16 points on seven dunks and a career hook shot.
Jamal Murray added 19 points and eight assists as the Nuggets improved to 7-1 since the All-Star break.
It was the 30th 30-point triple-double of Jokic’s career.
“He’s just an unbelievable basketball player,” Celtics center Kristaps Porzingis said. “In fact, I learned a few things from him today. He’s so smart, so sneaky, there are so many things that you don’t see him do on the court that help that team win. He is incredible. As long as you help him a little bit more, he’ll find Gordon, he’ll find all these guys. He talks about how valuable he is to them.”
When asked what exactly he learned, Porzingis said, “He does a couple of tricks, I’ll leave it at that.”
Maybe some of that sorcery Porzingis was referring to had to do with the Jokic-Gordon alley-oop play that is becoming as much a part of Denver’s clutch arsenal as the Jokic-Gordon pick-and-roll. Murray.
Gordon’s best dunk came off a missed layup by Jokic with two minutes left. Gordon grabbed the rebound with his right hand and drove it through the basket for a 109-103 lead.
“It was a bad miss,” Jokic said, “but a great dunk.”
The two teamed up to seal the game with 20 seconds left after Jayson Tatum’s 3-pointer to take the lead with 40 seconds left.
Jaylen Brown scored a season-high 41 points and grabbed 14 rebounds for the Celtics, who had not lost consecutive games since early November. But Brown was just 7 of 14 from the foul line.
“Maybe it’s the elevation,” Brown said. “It felt good throwing the ball.”
Boston missed nine free throws in total, while the Nuggets missed just one of 22 free throws.
Porzingis added 24 points and 12 rebounds for Boston, and Tatum scored 15 on a difficult shooting night.
The Nuggets bench outscored Boston’s reserves 28-10, led by Peyton Watson’s 11 points and stellar perimeter defense.
Both teams were coming off losses that ended long winning streaks. The Celtics’ 105-104 loss at Cleveland on Tuesday snapped an 11-game skid, and Denver’s 117-107 overtime loss to Phoenix halted the Nuggets’ six-game skid.
If these teams are headed toward a clash in the NBA Finals in June, this was a tantalizing preview. Both coaches viewed the matchup as a measuring stick of sorts heading into the final stretch, with Denver’s Michael Malone highlighting Boston’s best NBA record and Celtics coach Joe Mazzulla calling the reigning champions the benchmark. of the league.
The match was everything expected from two top contenders.
Denver’s dynamic duo each had a buzzer-beater in the first half, with Murray hitting a 30-footer to end the first quarter and Jokic hitting a 12-footer with Porzingis in his face that gave Denver a lead. 62-54 at halftime.
However, Boston quickly erased that deficit with a pair of 3-pointers from Porzingis and a layup from Brown after the break.
“That team never goes away,” Malone said.
UNTIL NEXT TIME
Celtics: Visit Phoenix on Saturday night.
Nuggets: Host Utah on Saturday night.
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NBA AP: https://apnews.com/hub/nba
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