Jaylen Brown scores 33, but Celtics fall to shorthanded Nuggets

Boston Celtics

The Celtics lost to the Nuggets 114-110 Wednesday night, snapping a five-game win streak for Boston.

The Celtics saw their five-game winning streak snapped by a short-handed Nuggets team that claimed a 114-110 victory while playing with a familiar sense of purpose on Wednesday. 

Here are the takeaways. 

The Nuggets are impressive

Before we get to the failures of the Celtics, we should follow Joe Mazzulla’s lead and give the Nuggets their well-earned due.

“There’s definitely possessions that we have to be better at in our rotations, but you’ve got to give credit to them,” Mazzulla said. “They came together as a team. [Jamal Murray] was a great playmaker, and they knocked down shots.”

Murray picked the Celtics apart — 22 points and one of the better 17-assist performances you’ll ever see. Sometimes, stat takers are overly generous to passers, but his were impressively ethical. On the 17 passes Murray dished out to pile up his gaudy numbers, the Nuggets only put the ball on the floor once. He collapsed the defense masterfully and dished out of double-teams, repeatedly finding teammates for wide-open 3-pointers. 

“Obviously you want to get out of his hand, but I think a lot of those kind of led to layups or 3s and those kind of hurt you,” Derrick White said. “So maybe better pressure on the ball or whatever it might be, but they made a lot of really good plays.”

Meanwhile, the Nuggets’ 3-point shooting put the Celtics’ to shame, which doesn’t happen a lot. The Nuggets finished 20-for-44 from behind the arc (in contrast to the Celtics’ 15-for-38 performance), mostly thanks to Peyton Watson’s 6-for-7 outburst. Watson looks like a potential star as the Nuggets try to deal with the absence of Nikola Jokic. 

“I thought our defense was fine,” Jaylen Brown said. “I think they just made a lot of shots. Got to give some credit to them. They shot, what, 20 of 44 from three? I think that was one of their better shooting performances of the year from three. 

“Peyton Watson, a lot of those guys, working on their game. They shot the ball incredibly well from downtown tonight. I thought our defense did its job, but they had a good shooting night.”

Reasonable people can disagree about how good the Celtics’ defense was, but none of it should take away from what the Nuggets accomplished in their last two games. Prior to beating the Celtics, they also upended the 76ers — two very impressive wins from a team that has been outscored by 6.5 points per 100 possessions with Jokic off the floor so far this season (and has outscored teams by 12.2 points per 100 possessions when he plays). 

Much of the NBA world spent the first two months of the season anointing the Thunder as back-to-back champions, and the Thunder certainly could win it all (although, in case you missed it, they have now lost back-to-back games to teams that are aimed squarely at the lottery). 

But, the Nuggets are no joke, and for a Celtics team that knows a thing or two about winning in the face of adversity, their spirited two-way performance on Wednesday may have looked pretty familiar. 

The Nuggets won with a big run

The Celtics surrendered a 14-0 run at the worst possible time. 

With 8:12 remaining in the fourth quarter, Anfernee Simons tipped himself an offensive rebound, then twisted his way under the basket to put in a difficult reverse layup, which put the Celtics up 90-87.

For the next 4:25, the Nuggets completely smothered the Celtics. They didn’t score, and the Nuggets put up 14 points to take a 101-90 lead before Brown finally snapped it with a three-point play. The Celtics made a too-little, too-late run to trim the lead, but they were never a real threat down the stretch.

“I think they kind of just went to that switching lineup and we weren’t able to get the looks that we want to get,” White said. “So just got to be better at that and learn a lot from it and try to see what we do better.”

Jaylen Brown managed to have a bad 33-point game

It’s not often that a player can put up a disappointing 33-point, seven-rebound, four-assist statline, but Brown wasn’t a particularly bright spot in Wednesday’s loss despite his production. 

For one thing, Brown was 4-for-6 from deep (which is great!), but his efficient, high-volume 3-point performances often translate to huge scoring nights. Instead, he missed 13 shots around the rim and in the mid-range, which have been his best scoring areas this season. 

More damaging, however, were Brown’s seven turnovers — a disappointing total from a player who has been a lot sharper with his handle and passing. Even worse: three of those seven turnovers came after the Nuggets went up 99-90 with less than five minutes remaining. Down nine at that stage, the Celtics had essentially no margin for error.

Brown, who went 1-for-3 from the free-throw line, also spent much of his postgame complaining about the officials, bringing them up in three different answers. 

“I’m one of the more aggressive players in the league,” Brown said. “I drive a lot, and the whistle didn’t equate to that. Maybe they wanted to make an emphasis, I don’t know. But I’ll adjust for the next game and kind of see how the game is being called, because if you don’t get some of those calls, and they look like bad shots, and it kind of snowballs on defense.”

Wednesday was not a banner night from Brown, who — of course — has earned himself a lot of grace by putting together a season full of banner nights. 

Still, with a difficult January ahead of the Celtics, they will need to make sure Brown doesn’t get so weary that he can’t maintain the lofty levels that have propelled the Celtics to this point.

Anfernee Simons stayed hot

The Celtics squandered another nice performance from Simons, who has started 2026 very hot. Simons hit three 3-pointers, and he tossed in a couple of tough layups over heavy contests. 

Simons’ timing couldn’t be better for the Celtics; he has given them the best kind of tough decision to make. 

On the one hand, they could keep a genuine scoring threat off the bench who can break games open nearly singlehandedly, and indeed, that is starting to look more and more like a viable course of action as the Celtics rise in the standings — why mess with the success and chemistry of this surprising contender?

On the other hand, this has been a nice reminder to the rest of the NBA that Simons is a certified bucket-getter who can create shots for himself while embracing a completely new system and role without any drama whatsoever. If your team could use that kind of player, a call to Brad Stevens might not be the worst course of action.

Neemias Queta had another big game

The Celtics also squandered another big game from their big man, who scored six points and pulled down 20 rebounds, 10 of which were offensive. 

Perhaps most impressive: He played just 24 minutes. 

What’s next

The Celtics will need to bounce back quickly as the games keep coming fast and furious in January. They take on the Raptors on Friday at 7 p.m. before the Spurs visit on Saturday at 8 p.m. They will travel to Indiana on Monday.