5 takeaways as Jaylen Brown leads Celtics over Nikola Jokic and the Nuggets

COMMENTARY

The Boston Celtics got back over .500 on Tuesday, knocking off the Denver Nuggets 112-99.

Five takeaways as the Celtics overcame a monstrous performance by Nikola Jokic.

The Celtics looked better in nearly every facet of the game. 

Jaylen Brown made 3-pointers (5-for-10 overall). Jayson Tatum started slow but heated up late (21 points, 8-for-8 from the free-throw line). The offense moved the ball around (26 total assists, eight apiece for Tatum and Payton Pritchard). The defense was more connected. The bench helped. After a truly abysmal performance against the Wizards, the Celtics looked like a complete team again.

That’s not to say everything is fixed. The Nuggets were missing a lot of key players, the Celtics committed 20 turnovers, and talented bigs still give Boston fits.

But Brad Stevens often talks about how difficult it is to win an NBA game, no matter who the opponent is, and the Celtics looked like a much happier bunch. Losing feels bad no matter the circumstances that can help explain it away. But winning is the other side of that coin: Whoever you are facing, and whatever their circumstances, a victory just feels good.

“We just lost two bad ones so I think it was obvious that we needed a win tonight,” Brown said after the game. “And we needed to come out with good energy. And I think for the most part we did. So I’m grateful that we got the win.”

The Celtics have nothing for Nikola Jokic. Does anyone?

Jokic put together a sublime performance for a very short-handed Nuggets team, posting 43 points on 23 shots. The Celtics could do absolutely nothing to stop him — Tristan Thompson was too short, Robert Williams was a little too twitchy, and nobody else could deal with a soft-handed behemoth like the Nuggets’ star center.

“I thought both those guys gave everything they had on Jokic,” Brad Stevens said. “Jokic is a load, and obviously with all the fakes and with his ability to draw fouls, and his ability to score the ball, and obviously his incredible passing ability, he is a tough, tough cover.”

To Stevens’ point, Jokic is an MVP candidate because other teams have nothing for him either. He gets where he wants to be and makes shots he knows he can make. When teams take those shots away, Jokic finds his teammates (five assists on Tuesday to supplement his scoring).

The Celtics, particularly on the perimeter, had too much for the rest of the players available to Denver — the Nuggets were without Paul Millsap, Gary Harris, Will Barton, and Monte Morris. Jokic is a near-impossible cover though.

Kemba Walker has put together back-to-back good games. 

After he was one of the only players who performed well against Washington, Walker followed it up with a quiet-but-effective 17 points on 5-for-13 shooting. He established a nice two-man game early with Tristan Thompson and finished 3-for-8 from deep.

The Nuggets were uniquely set up to give Walker some confidence — his point-guard counterpart was Facundo Campazzo, who is just 5-foot-10. But Walker appears to be regaining some rhythm, and he played 31 minutes on Tuesday. The only visible pain he appeared to be in was when he ran into a Jamal Murray screen and suffer what looked like a mild stinger. Otherwise, the Celtics can be encouraged by Walker for the second game in a row.

Aaron Nesmith got plenty of run and put together some good minutes.

Nesmith’s lack of playing time caused plenty of consternation among Celtics fans over the last two weeks, but he played extended minutes against Washington and was the first player off the bench against the Nuggets as well.

On Tuesday, Nesmith looked solid. He scored nine points and made a pair of 3-pointers, including one curling off a screen that was very reminiscent of his style of play in college. Nesmith didn’t look ready for NBA action in his first few appearances. If he can piece together consistent offense as the season stretches on, his floor spacing and gravity would be a big help.

“He’s obviously becoming more comfortable with the speed of the game on the offensive end,” Stevens said. “I think that was probably the biggest transition for him, and he’s handled that well. Credit to him, he’s just kept working. When a guy gets that opportunity, you really want to see him succeed, and it’s two good games in a row. I thought he was one of our bright spots in Washington, one of the very few. And obviously, there’s a lot to build off there with what he did. so. I would say that he’s on a good two-game streak, and we’ll see.”

When the bench is good, Boston is good.

The Celtics shortened their bench to just four: Robert Williams, Payton Pritchard, Javonte Green and Nesmith. That unit was effective — 30 points combined on 11-for-17 shooting, including 4-for-8 from deep. They didn’t make many mistakes (four turnovers) and held the fort for Boston’s stars.

That won’t always be the case, of course. Boston’s bench is very young and has been very inconsistent. But once again, the takeaway for the Celtics is that if their second unit can score and contribute, they are a much tougher team to handle.

“I feel like the bench brought great energy, but I feel like it was all around just positive vibes,” Rob Williams said. “Something we’ve been talking about.”

Get Boston.com’s browser alerts:

Enable breaking news notifications straight to your internet browser.

Turn on notifications

Great, you’re signed up!