Celtics Have Favorable Track Record Heading Into Battle Vs. Nuggets

The Boston Celtics haven’t lost consecutive games since October, and that’s exactly what they’ll look to prevent when facing the defending NBA champion Denver Nuggets on Thursday night.

Having accumulated an NBA-best 48 wins through 61 games played, the Celtics haven’t collided with any cold skits up to this point. They’ve remained consistent overall, have lost a few inexcusable-caliber contests, but most importantly, have always responded. Boston’s gone 11-0 in its last 11 games played following losses, recording a plus-16.8 scoring differential in that span, per team play-by-play announcer Sean Grande.

Most recently, the fourth quarter proved to be Boston’s greatest challenge and enemy. As the Cavaliers sought to weather the storm of Donovan Mitchell’s absence, the Celtics did Cleveland a favor on Tuesday night. Boston took its foot off the gas, shooting 8-of-25 from the field — and 0-for-8 from three — in the final 12 minutes, turning a 22-point lead into a 105-104 loss. Simultaneously, the team also sat back and allowed 2019 undrafted forward Dean Wade to score 20 points in the final frame, and he’s only reached a 20-point total on one other occasion this season.

That can’t happen, especially for a Celtics team that was awarded a heavy dose of front-office investment in the offseason, headlined by tireless efforts from president of basketball operations Brad Stevens. But then again, it’s not a reoccurring issue that’s followed the team either.

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Boston’s latest fourth-quarter performance, albeit inexcusable on all fronts, wasn’t indicative of how the team’s performed routinely in that frame. The Celtics are tied for the league lead in threes made (3.6) in the fourth quarter and rank second in the Eastern Conference in clutch true shooting (63.2%). That overrules Tatum’s missed fadeaway over two defenders, which if highlighted most, is just a misleading scapegoat for everything Boston failed to do collectively to prevent one shot from determining the outcome.

Jaylen Brown, Tatum’s right-hand man, understands that.

“That’s what happens when you don’t match the gas and take the little things for granted throughout the game, and you let a team stick around, and they still NBA players and tip your cap,” Brown told reporters, per CLNS Media. “Dean Wade, he got hot. We wasn’t expecting or accounting for that, but we still should’ve won this game.”

Having not lost since Feb. 4, the Celtics were bound for a hiccup or two in the final 25% of the regular season. However, since Boston’s recent playoff track record consists of collapses identical to Tuesday night’s in Cleveland, that link is due to be drawn regardless of how unfair it might be. Even if Boston leads the league in wins, records an NBA-record three 50-plus-point blowouts in a single season and rarely encounters losing steaks, none of that matters. Everything will come down to where the Celtics stand in the playoffs.

Hosted by a Nuggets team that’s gone 24-6 at home, coupled with all other implications involved, Boston will put to the test.

During their last meeting, on Jan. 19 in Boston, Denver escaped with a 102-100 victory at TD Garden. That doesn’t speak nearly as many volumes as the Milwaukee Bucks falling 125-90 against a washed Golden State Warriors on Wednesday night, but it’s still enough to give the Nuggets an upper hand.

Boston enters Denver with a 15-6 record against teams in the West, and a 24-11 record when playing teams over .500 this season.