Kristaps Porziņģis Breakout at Nuggets Swings Celtics Road Trip Into Success

DENVER — The Celtics could’ve reacted as disappointed as the Nuggets were when they received news a few hours before tip-off that Nikola Jokić left the arena with an illness that worsened one day after it struck him.

We’ve seen it before. Boston, between its loss to the Lakers with Anthony Davis and LeBron James missing last season, and an NBA Cup loss to the Hawks to begin 2024-25, learned that opponents can catch the Celtics off-guard without their stars available.

Kristaps Porziņģis explained the plan to speed Jokić up during shootaround. Jayson Tatum prepared to only guard the Nuggets’ center in limited spots despite his usual role defending fives. That all went away at game time.

“The proactive piece is the appropriate way to look at that,” Joe Mazzulla said before Jokić’s scratch. “How can you be proactive? I think it comes down to just having an understanding of what they look like when he’s not available. You got (Jamal) Murray, you got (Michael) Porter, those two guys are top notch guys, able to impact the game, but it’s really just everybody. I think it’s just really an attention to detail to what their personnel is, how we can impact the game defensively and what it looks like on the offensive end.”

The Nuggets rallied from behind by 15 points in the first half to play the Celtics close to possession-for-possession until early in the fourth quarter, when Jaylen Brown and the second unit carved out a 7-5 win in the stretch that doomed Boston on Sunday in Oklahoma City. Tatum closed with seven points in the fourth, scoring 29 on 11-of-23 shooting while the Celtics sent extra pressure at Murray, limiting him to 19 points on 8-of-17 in a 118-106 win. Porziņģis posted his best performance of 2024-25 — 25 points, 11 rebounds and three assists on 9-of-18 FG.

Jokić’s absence gave him free rein over Denver’s backup bigs in shooting actions and allowed him to dominate the many possessions where he drew the Nuggets’ smaller wings. The fouls against him piled up in droves, he scored from all three levels and the free throw line with nine points in the opening four minutes. Then, 30 seconds after returning from his rest stint, he put back a Payton Pritchard miss as Zeke Nnaji kicked him in the balls. Porziņģis writhed on the floor for the entire possession on the opposite end before stumbling to the bench.

“You can imagine what happened,” he said later. “That was honestly pretty painful, I’m not gonna lie, but it went away pretty quick. So all good. I know it scared everybody, but all good.”

Mazzulla considered it the most physical performance of Porziņģis’ season, only 14 games old after at least three injury setbacks. They were frustrating, he recalled, and still only leave him at 80-85% of his capacity, in his terms. Tuesday night saw him at the closest to his former self, who would obliterate mismatches, impact the offensive glass, space the floor and take away the rim defensively.

Even after Jokić left the building, the Celtics maintained their fire by drawing inspiration from Sunday’s letdown at Oklahoma City. Porziņģis showed the brightest flashes Boston had that night, torturing the Thunder with his post-ups and cuts. He attempted five of his second half shots from three, though, going 1-of-5 as he awaits a shooting turnaround like several of his teammates. The Celtics abandoned the three, by their standards, shooting only 35 and beating the Nuggets by powering inside to shoot 50% from the field and attempt 20 free throws.

“Tonight, I think it was burning inside of us a little bit, that last game and how we played offensively,” Porziņģis said. “We wanted to come back to this game with high focus and high execution, and doing things well. I still don’t think we played an excellent game, but I don’t think it changed much for us, him being in or out. We were just hungry tonight, and we wanted to come back out there and bounce back from our loss.”

Russell Westbrook made it difficult to do so, as he beat Boston’s defense that mostly ignored him in the first half with 2-of-4 three point shooting that flowed into a 2-of-3 third. While Tatum and Porzingis went off, Westbrook and the Nuggets shut off Brown, who didn’t shoot in the first quarter and entered halftime 0-for-4 with two points. He remained patient, pulling his defender to the corner midway through the second and blowing by him to get Neemias Queta the final of his four shots inside during a second quarter burst. Still, Denver outscored Boston 32-20 in the frame to enter halftime tied 57-57 before Brown finished 4-for-4 in the third.

The stalemate held for most of that frame, Westbrook pulling three points out of one possession by grabbing his own free throw miss then getting fouled again. He hit a pull-up three soon after, and as Denver’s offensive rebounding advantage mounted, reaching 13-11 by the end of the night, Porter Jr. appeared to reach the line again before Boston successfully challenged Sam Hauser’s apparent stop. Hauser and Tatum hit back-to-back threes, and the Celtics pulled away later in the fourth after Brown, Holiday and Porziņģis successfully withstood a charge by Christian Braun, Julian Strawther and Murray to begin the final frame.

Porziņģis’ put back broke a 93-93 tie, crushing four dunks throughout the victory. Holiday hit a three and Boston broke off on a 15-0 run before Westbrook scored over four minutes later. The stifling stretch marked one of Mazzulla’s major takeaways from the road trip — the defensive consistency returned.

“I don’t think we were excellent, but I think we’re getting there,” Porzingis said. “I think we’re gonna turn the corner and go on a nice run. I really believe so. Joe said it this morning, this is, I don’t know, maybe our third game? Oh, D. White was out tonight … so it’s been like two games with our full roster this season, so obviously, it’s tough. And now, me coming back and getting back in shape, it’s not easy for guys. We’ll get some consistency, I believe.”

• Derrick White didn’t leave his hotel room, Mazzulla said, before missing his homecoming game to Colorado with an illness. Jordan Walsh also sat out the game with an illness, as did Jokić, weeks after Tatum became a late scratch in Orlando after falling ill following the team meeting and losing a ton of fluids, he said. It’s worth keeping an eye on how the team can avoid similar absences in coming weeks.
• The Celtics have an interesting contrast with injuries: they have the fifth-fewest games lost, 10th-fewest minutes lost relative to the league, but their 11th-ranked LEBRON WAR lost reflects the key players they’ve lost: “We’re almost at the beginning of training camp with that starting five with what the reps look like. You can’t underestimate how that impacts each other … matchups … coverages … rhythm,” Mazzulla said.
  
• Michael Malone ran through all seven of his timeouts with five minutes remaining in the fourth quarter while Mazzulla still held four ahead of the three-minute use it or lose it. It was a staggering sight not atypical for either of the arguably two most different head coaches in the NBA, on either end of the three-point attempt spectrum as well. They did, however, share the experience of trying to repeat as NBA champions between this year and last:
• “Not one time last year did I feel like we were complacent. We tied a franchise record 57 wins, so I don’t ever think it was complacency. I think it was you get through the regular season and then you have the playoffs. That’s when it really matters. Can you find a way to win a series? And last year, we were not able to get the job done … but I can’t speak for all the other champions. Golden State was the last team to go back-to-back, my father was on the staff with Chuck Daly and Detroit when they went back-to-back. It takes a special team and a special group to be able to fight through the adversity and the complacency and the fact that 29 other teams are coming for you every night. I was gonna say I wish them well, but I really don’t,” Malone said.
• Mazzulla said the goal was a 4-0 road trip, and while the Celtics didn’t accomplish that, and their lone sore spot came in the most consequential big picture game, they felt the loss and responded well at high altitude in their fourth game over six nights. The Thunder’s legitimate ascent to their level is the top takeaway, though their defensive brilliance on Anthony Edwards, a shutdown effort at Houston one day later and Porzingis’ strong return come as positives for a group that got back on track since December ended.
• “Everybody said this road trip was brutal, I think what was what a couple people used to start. So that was great. I just like the way our guys handled it. I liked the way we approached it. It was four tough environments. And I thought our defense kind of carried us, and then I thought our offense was what helped us. But I really liked just the guys, the road trip mindset that they brought, the physicality throughout the course of all four games was there, the connectivity and I think this road trip, we became a better team, so we gotta keep this up.”