BOSTON — The Celtics found a way to win on Sunday over the Denver Nuggets despite another near triple-double from Nikola Jokic. The defending MVP posted 20 points, 14 rebounds and 9 assists in the 110-103 loss but the Celtics did well all game to ensure he didn’t take over the game offensively.
Boston wisely played with two bigs in the starting five in Al Horford and Luke Kornet to give them more size against the big man with Kristaps Porzingis sidelined. However, Joe Mazzulla’s approach to containing Jokic was centered around limiting everything around the Nuggets star.
“We didn’t talk anything about Jokic in the game plan,” Mazzulla said. “It’s not about him. It’s about controlling all the other stuff that you can control. They’re one of the best teams in the league on cuts.
“Can you take all their cuts? Can you take away their transition leak outs by not turning it over, by crashing the offensive glass. Can you try to keep him off the free-throw line? Can you win the minutes that he’s not on the court? You don’t really talk about him in a game plan. You talk about all the other stuff that you can control.”
Outside of a big second half of Jamal Murray, the Celtics did well to keep that supporting cast in check. Denver shot just 34 percent from 3-point range and got to the free throw line just 13 times as Boston tightened up defensively in key spots and ensured Jokic couldn’t pick them apart with his passing.
“You don’t really talk about it but you know everything runs through him,” Al Horford said. “He’s such a smart player that it’s difficult. So what you want to do is, to Joe’s point, is try to limit other guys the best way that you can and take away certain tendencies and things like that.
“I felt like Luke and Neemi, the job that they had to do tonight, navigating defensively, when to help, when to step back, protect the paint. Those two in particular, I feel like they did a great job being really in sync and understanding the game plan that we had.”
Horford was also a big part of achieving that philosophy by being able to hold his own in single coverage against Jokic on several possessions in the post.
“I just like to compete,” Horford said of his defense. ‘It comes down to that. In Jokic’s case, in my opinion, he’s probably the top player in our league right now. It’s just so much that he does. He’s so difficult to defend because he’s so unpredictable.”
“What makes it worse is that he plays the right way. He’s looking to make winning plays and somehow he still gets all these crazy numbers and these crazy stats. For me, when you go against a guy like that, it’s not me against him. It’s everybody really has to be synced in what we need to do and what the game plan was. I felt like our guys were tonight, and they provided that help.”
The Celtics and Horford avoided their first three-game losing streak of the season with the win and now get two days to rest before the Blazers come to town Wednesday night.
- BETTING: Check out our MA sports betting guide, where you can learn basic terminology, definitions and how to read odds for those interested in learning how to bet in Massachusetts.
