The Celtics lost a tough one on the road in Denver on Wednesday night, running out of gas and falling, 104-85, to the Nuggets. The biggest factor in the loss was the ridiculous scheduling, as Boston was forced to play in Los Angeles on Sunday night, Phoenix on Tuesday night, and then Denver on Wednesday.
Jetlag, tired legs, and fatigue caught up with the Cs, and after a valiant fight in the first half, the wheels started to fall off in the third quarter, and the Nuggets were able to pull away.
It’s hard to be too upset with the Celtics, or to take too much away from this game, at the end of a very strong road trip. But if there is anything that can be gleaned, in a basketball sense, it’s the way the team struggled with the massive big men on the Nuggets.
Obviously, Nikola Jokic is the best player in the world, and a tough matchup for anyone. Neemias Queta and Nikola Vucevic did a solid job and made him work, but he was still able to abuse them on some post-ups with spin moves that led to easy layups.
Jokic is Jokic, but perhaps even more concerning was that Jonas Valanciunas was dominating and pushing the Cs around when he came off the bench as well. We knew coming into the season that the frontcourt would be a big question mark for Boston, but Queta, Luka Garza, and now Vooch have held up tremendously. They got bullied a bit by the size and strength of the Nuggets.
Very few teams can actually punish the Celtics with size
While this could be seen as a red flag, the reality of the situation is that this isn’t your grandfather’s NBA anymore. Teams aren’t built around big, low-post centers who dominate in the post. The days of facing guys like Shaq, Hakeem, Patrick Ewing, and others on a nightly basis are long gone.
Jokic is a beast unto himself, but there just aren’t many centers around the league who are a threat to kill the Celtics in the post. Joel Embiid can do it in spurts, but the chances of him putting it all together in the playoffs are slim.Â
Jalen Duren is having an All-Star season for the Pistons, but he’s not going to kill you with post moves. The same could be said for guys like Evan Mobley and Jarrett Allen on the Cavs. Karl-Anthony Towns has the potential, but he’d much rather play on the perimeter and put up shots.
The only real threats are Jokic and Victor Wembanyama, but both reside in the West, and frankly, nobody has answers for them, and if the Cs need to worry about that, they’ll be in the NBA Finals at that point.
Furthermore, Boston has waves of big, strong, athletic wing defenders who can guard up when needed, and that will be even more true if Jayson Tatum is able to return. So, while the center position has been a perceived weakness all season long, the chances of it actually coming back to bite the Celtics are very slim.