After two bad losses to the Detroit Pistons and most recently the Washington Wizards, the Boston Celtics bounced back getting 27 points from Jaylen Brown on Tuesday night to defeat the Denver Nuggets 112-99 at TD Garden in Boston.
Both teams held a first quarter lead, before Boston (14-13) opened it up a little in the second with their biggest lead of the night at 48-33 on a Payton Pritchard layup about halfway through the period. Denver (15-12) would rally and cut it to just a 59-54 deficit at halftime. A jumper by Nikola Jokic would tie the game 71-71 with 4:09 left in the third, before the Celtics went on a 15-4 run and took control again when Brown went in for a layup to make it 86-75 headed for the fourth. Denver never got closer than seven the rest of the way as the lead grew to 14 in the final quarter.
Brown added five rebounds and five assists in the win for Boston and hit 5-10 from the three-point arc. Jayson Tatum had 21 points, six rebounds, and eight assists. Kemba Walker would add 17 points and four assists. Jokic had a game-high 43 points, six rebounds, five assists, and two steals in the Denver loss. Jamal Murray also added 25 points, six rebounds, six assists, and three steals. The Celtics will host the Atlanta Hawks Wednesday night.
