Nikola Jokic and Jamal Murray on Friday combined for 69 points as the Denver Nuggets ended the Boston Celtics’ unbeaten home start to the season with a thrilling 102-100 victory.
A heavyweight showdown between the reigning NBA champions and the league-leading Celtics lived up to the billing in a gripping battle at TD Garden.
Denver’s victory snapped Boston’s 20-game unbeaten run at home this season, the Nuggets laying down a psychological marker in what could be a NBA Finals preview.
Photo: AFP
Murray and two-time NBA Most Valuable Player Jokic were in scintillating form throughout the game.
Jokic finished with 34 points, 12 rebounds and nine assists, while Murray led the Nuggets scoring with 35 points from 15-of-21 shooting.
“During the season you’ve got to find ways of motivating yourself and your team, and them not having a loss at home really motivated us,” Murray said afterward.
“We just wanted to come here and bring the right energy regardless. It was good to get a dub [win] today,” added Murray, who also had eight rebounds and five assists. “They’ve got a great team, lot of guys I’m familiar with that I’ve been playing with or against my whole life — just a lot of fun when it gets competitive and physical like that. Just a really good win on the road.”
Derrick White led Boston’s scoring with 24 points, while Jayson Tatum added 22 and Kristaps Porzingis 21.
For long periods of the titanic battle, it looked as if Boston would escape with their unbeaten home record intact in a game that saw the lead change hands 13 times.
The Celtics built a 12-point lead during the second quarter, with Tatum scoring 10 points and Jaylen Brown adding seven, but Denver clawed their way back into the contest and edged ahead 99-98 with 3 minutes, 36 seconds remaining after Jokic’s driving hook shot.
Tatum missed an opportunity to tie the game with an unsuccessful driving layup with 17 seconds left and the Nuggets held on for a gutsy victory.
Boston remained top of the Eastern Conference with 32 wins and 10 defeats, leading the second-placed Milwaukee Bucks (28-13).
Denver improved to 29-14 and were third in the Western Conference behind the Minnesota Timberwolves (30-11) and Oklahoma City Thunder (28-13).
In other NBA games on Friday, Devin Booker produced a superb 52-point display as the Phoenix Suns routed the New Orleans Pelicans 123-109 on the road.
Suns point guard Booker made six three-pointers while shooting 18 of 30 from the field in an impressive Phoenix win.
Kevin Durant added 26 points for the Suns with Bradley Beal scoring 13.
Zion Williamson scored 24 points for New Orleans who trailed almost for the entirety of the contest.
Elsewhere, hopes of a Los Angeles Lakers’ revival ground to a halt as the 17-time NBA champions were thumped 130-112 by the Brooklyn Nets.
Impressive back-to-back wins over Oklahoma City and the Dallas Mavericks this week encouraged optimism that the struggling Lakers might have turned a corner, but they were sent back to the drawing board after a blowout defeat to the Nets.
In Orlando, Joel Embiid’s rich vein of form for the Philadelphia 76ers continued as they swatted aside the Orlando Magic 124-109.
Elsewhere on Friday, it was:
‧ Heat 108, Hawks 109
‧ Trail Blazers 118, Pacers 115
‧ Hornets 124, Spurs 120
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