On Friday night at the Garden the #1 seed in the Eastern Conference Boston Celtics (32-9) welcome Nikola Jokic and the defending champion Denver Nuggets (28-14) to Boston in a heavyweight battle that many believe could be an NBA Finals preview. The Celtics have been perfect at home this season sitting at 20-0 headed into this one while the Nuggets sit at 3rd in the Western Conference coming off a tough loss to the 76ers on Wednesday night.
First Quarter
Both teams headed into this one fully healthy so NBA fans were in for potentially the game of the year and it certainly looked that way early on. Kristaps Porzingis made his presence felt early scoring Boston’s first 11 points giving them a slight 11-8 lead with 9 minutes to go in the first quarter. Jokic was making his presence felt early as well with 6 points 2 rebounds and an assist in his first 6 minutes. The teams continued to trade shots throughout the first quarter led by Jokic and Porzingis who were both in double figures early in this one.
With 2:30 to go in the first Porzingis was already up to 15 points on 4/5 shooting while Jokic had 13 on 6/8 shooting. NBA fans that hate load management and the National TV executives that have had so many bad games on the slate this season had to be thrilled at what they were getting in the first quarter. It was an unbelievable display of high level basketball with Boston leading by one 32-31 at the end of the first quarter.
Second Quarter
The second quarter couldn’t have started any better for Boston as Jayson Tatum who was relatively quiet in the first quarter rattled off 6 quick points giving Boston a 38-31 lead forcing Denver head coach Mike Malone to call an early timeout. Malone’s timeout certainly seemed to work as Denver rattled off a 9-3 run led by Jamal Murray to get them right back into the game. The second quarter turned into a game of runs as Boston would explode for a 9-1 run to answer Denver’s. Giving Boston it’s largest lead of the night 52-44 with 4:49 left in the half. This lead would expand but only slightly as Murray and Jokic really started to heat up to close the quarter going on a 7-3 run to cut Boston’s lead to six 61-55 at the end of the first half.