Xavier Tillman Sr. played his second game with real rotation minutes since arriving to the Celtics last month to matchup with Nikola Jokic and give Boston bigger looks into its second unit alongside Al Horford. The experiment — worthy given the point in the season and the matchup potentially previewing the Finals — didn’t work.
The Celtics’ inability to pressure the Nuggets in the nearly 10 minutes Jokic sat for played a significant role in Boston’s 115-109 loss at Denver on Thursday. They won those stretches by three points, playing them even for most of the night when opponents have outscored the Nuggets by 9.5 points per 100 possessions when Jokic sits this season. Boston lost Tillman’s 13 minutes, which came in part against Denver bench units, by 12 points. Not the entire story of the game, but a layer among various factors that could swing a Finals series between the two teams.
“We had a chance to take the lead with 40 seconds left, it was a one possession game,” Joe Mazzulla said, assessing the game. “We just didn’t make it, and they even gave us an open one with 12 seconds left down four … So we had our chances, and when you play against another good team, those things get magnified.”
Many takeaways came from a measuring stick matchup with both sides healthy and playing as close to a draw as you can in the Nuggets’ January win at TD Garden. Mazzulla left that game optimistic about the shots Boston produced, but the Celtics executed as poorly as they have all year at times in the latest matchup, turning the ball over 12 times, seeing Jayson Tatum held to 15 points and 13 shots, with five of those giveaways in -2 minutes. Kristaps Porzingis also struggled to exploit mismatches, mostly made a three-point shooter by a prepared, physical and shifting Denver defense that held Boston to 45.1% shooting (28.9% 3PT).
All that mostly falls on the players in an offense that’s been drilled and succeeded at finding and exploiting weaknesses. Yet unlike last matchup, where Christian Braun struggled to stay on the floor, the Nuggets mostly got away with 16:40 (+9) Braun minutes, along with 13 from Justin Holiday (+6) and 17 strong Peyton Watson minutes (+11) that keyed Denver’s bench advantage. He scored five points late in the third to help push the Nuggets ahead by double-digits into the final frame, blocked Tatum in the fourth and made shots to close the first and open the second quarter. Meanwhile, Boston’s bench posted 10 points on 3-for-8 shooting.
Tillman entered alongside Sam Hauser after Horford subbed in earlier in the first to front Jokic. Horford and Tillman had outscored opponents by 6.4 points per 100 through their first two games and 22 minutes together, and after Luke Kornet and Horford struggled immensely in the loss at Cleveland on Tuesday, it made sense to experiment with a player primarily acquired for Jokic-like matchups and depth. Kornet did not play Thursday.
Tillman made life difficult for him at first alongside extra pressure the Celtics brought against Jokic early in a contrast to last game’s mostly single coverage aimed at making him a scorer. Jokic found the pass, hitting Watson for two, splitting a pair of shots over Tillman and finding Braun on the run. The size helped Boston create a 9-0 offensive rebounding advantage early, too, and a 28-25 lead when Tillman posted Watson for a second chance finish. Jokic’s efforts, although great, posting 32 points, 12 rebounds and 11 assists without a turnover, they didn’t cost Boston. The Celtics’ offense did.
“His ability to get the ball in the paint and with the shooting and the spacing that they have, and the offensive rebounding presence that (Aaron) Gordon brings, it puts you in a bind,” Mazzulla said. “I thought our guys did a great job changing matchups and changing the coverage.”
You have to show Jokic multiple defensive approaches, and while double-big fit into that game plan, an 8-for-12 start by Boston’s offense in the first ground to a halt once the Celtics went bigger. Tatum missed inside and Tillman back-rimmed a corner three for his final shot of the night before Jamal Murray’s long three capped 7-2 push by the Nuggets into the second. There, Jokic sat and Denver worked a 14-13 win over five minutes. Jaylen Brown turned the ball over and the Celtics missed three straight shots before his put-back. Horford missed a post-up try and Payton Pritchard missed a three. Finally, Brown buried a three and Derrick White attacked Watson for a three-point play before Horford and Tillman exited. That stretch could’ve been worse.
They returned to close the third and the Nuggets ripped off a 4-for-4 finish with three makes assisted by Jokic, the first three putting Tillman in pick-and-rolls before White and Hauser bizarrely guarded the fourth action. Brown crept in away from Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, who buried a three for the 90-80 advantage. The double big combo, spread to the corners, returned to begin the fourth, which Murray opened with a masterful drive and dunk through open space after two Nuggets misdirections. Denver led by 12 and hardly looked back.
Boston regained some life, five points, out of complaints by Murray that led to a technical and failure to get back on defense on his ensuing miss. A pick-and-roll with Zeke Nnaji and another floater in the lane largely negated those, as Denver won the Tillman minutes again and only ceded three points once he sat before Jokic returned to close out the game. Tatum shot 1-for-4 in those minutes, including driving into three defenders twice around a Tillman offensive rebound, but that spacing issue and an uninvolved effort by Horford at the four cast some doubt on double-big as an answer in this matchup, or in the playoffs at all.
It was worth a try, and with Pritchard giving up back-to-back buckets in a smaller lineup midway through the fourth, there might’ve been no right answer, but a chance to learn what doesn’t work.
“We can’t stay attached to a win for too long and I think the same thing is also for a loss … what matters are those possessions that we have to learn from, whether you win or lose,” Mazzulla said before the game. “It doesn’t feel much different after a win or a loss, because the guys are focused on the process.”
