Between guards Kyrie Irving (Boston) and Gary Harris (Denver), 69 points were scored, leading to the highest total of points accumulated by Boston this season, 124. As that was impressive, the defense was lenient, allowing 118 points, much higher than the average of roughly 97 a game. Although the defense for Boston kept the game higher with a shootout type of performance, the win is going to Boston, as they move onto Friday night.
Led by the leading scorer for Boston once again, Kyrie Irving made sure he guided the way to victory against the high octane Denver team. Scoring 33 points to go with 7 assists, Irving was quite literally the driving force for the C’s along with highlight reel guard/forward Jaylen Brown, who has now entered uncharted territory with his 26 point performance in 33 minutes. Brown had a very efficient day from the field to coexist with his personal best 26 points, going 9/12 from the field, 5/6 at the free throw line and burying 3 three’s out of 4 tries. Center Aron Baynes had one of the plays of the year with a nice fake pick and roll handoff, which he reverted to rolling to the hoop for a reverse layup. Baynes finished the night with 17 points and 6 rebounds, a productive night for the Aussie big man. Coach Stevens stuck with a 9 man lineup, more minutes for those 9 guys while trying to get efficient shots. Denver, without the presence of star center Jokic, still put up 118 points.
For the Nuggets, relying on former Michigan State sharpshooter Gary Harris (36 points) to guide Denver came up just short of victory at the Garden. Harris, who finished the night attempting 25 field goal attempts, sank 16 of them to go with 3 three pointers in a grand total of 38 minutes. The 1-2 punch of Harris and former Kentucky one and done Jamal Murray was lethal on the perimeter for the Nuggets. Murray dropped 28 points while grabbing an impressive 10 rebounds against Boston. On the offensive glass, Denver out rebounded the Celtics 20-4. Coach Stevens and company should not be happy about those numbers due to second chance opportunities. a
A big night for points, the Celtics proved that they aren’t a low scoring team, averaging around 103 points a game, and did it without the services of Marcus Morris, Al Horford or Gordon Hayward, all lost to injuries.
Next game for C’s: Friday 12/15 vs Utah Jazz
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