The Boston Celtics failed to capitalize on the opportunity to sweep their post-All-Star trip out West. They fell handedly to the Denver Nuggets, 103-84.
40-20 is cooked
For those keeping track, the Celtics’ hopes of hitting 40 wins before 20 losses are officially cooked with Wednesday’s loss to the Nuggets. Hall of Fame head coach Phil Jackson theorized that the mark of a true contender is just that. Historically, the numbers heavily back this up, with the majority of NBA Champions having had hit the threshold en route to their title.
Back-to-backs should be illegal on West Coast trips
The header gets the point across here. This game in Denver was the final leg of a four-game West Coast road trip for Boston. It looked like it. Not only that, but it was a back-to-back. So, the Celtics had to play the Suns, get on a plane, fly to Colorado, then suit up against the Nuggets less than 24-hours later.
That whole travel obstacle course is difficult enough, nevermind having to go play 48 minutes in the altitude.
It was clear as day that the Celtics were feeling fatigue. They couldn’t put the ball in the basket, especially in the second half, making just 35% of their total attempts and 28% from beyond the arc. They tallied a season-low in points with 84.
Plenty of their struggles had to do with the lack of control on the margins. Denver took 10 more shots than Boston did. In a complete 180 from Tuesday’s win in Phoenix, the Cs let go of the rope a bit when things didn’t go their way.
From the top down, no one had their A-game. It was just one of those nights.
We haven’t even talked about the strenuous sacrifices fans had to make to even watch this one. People who work in the morning stayed up past midnight to see the Cs completely run out of gas. Adam Silver and the NBA schedule-makers do not respect sleep.
Ball Arena is TD Garden West
If there’s anyone you can count on, it’s the community of Celtics fans residing in Denver, Colorado. Every single year they come out and make themselves heard when Boston makes their lone trip to the Mile-High City.
Like, they were so loud on Wednesday that Nuggets fans couldn’t even drown them out when they started a “Let’s go Celtics” chant in the first quarter.
Too bad they didn't have much else to get loud about as the game went on.