There are still around 20 games left in the NBA regular season. However, the clash between the Boston Celtics, the team with the best record in the league, and the Denver Nuggets, recent champions, has the aroma of a final. The match that Mike Malone’s team won 115-109 had a clear protagonist: Nikola Jokic.
The Serbian once again demonstrated why he is the top favorite to win the league MVP, an award he has already won twice. The Joker, in addition to his umpteenth triple-double with 32 points, 12 rebounds and 11 assists, gave us a superb final play to seal the game. At 111-109, and with 19 seconds left, the Serbian made several reverses until throwing an alley-oop for Aaron Gordon to put the difference on the scoreboard by four.
In the Nuggets, who after the All-Star have seven wins in eight games, the aforementioned Aaron Gordon also appeared, who had 16 points and 10 rebounds, and Jamal Murray, Jokic’s faithful squire, who scored 19 points and distributed nine assists .
For the Celtics, who have lost two consecutive games for the first time since November, an inspired Jaylen Brown with 41 points was not enough. The team’s other superstar, Jayson Tatum, was horrible, as he only scored 15 points, numbers well below his average this season.
However, the forward was able to reverse his bad game in the final stretch, when he had a completely free triple to put his team ahead. The Celtics player failed and left the victory on a plate for the Nuggets, who have won the two games they have met this season.
This defeat is not overly worrying for Boston, who remain at the top of the Eastern Conference with a seven-game lead over the Bucks, their immediate pursuers. For their part, the Nuggets, with this good streak after the break, are third in the West, but just one game behind the leaders, the Minnesota Timberwolves.