BOSTON – A double-digit lead in hand, Celtics irritant Grant Williams did his best to milk the fourth-quarter clock.
Williams stepped in front of Aaron Gordon with 5:06 left, and then paid the price for impeding his path to the ball. When Gordon leveled Williams, drawing a flagrant one, he embodied the frustration Denver felt all night against a feisty Boston squad. Behind scorching 3-point shooting, and the all-star level play of Boston’s two pillars, the Celtics snapped the Nuggets’ four-game winning streak with a 131-112 win.
Jayson Tatum (34 points) and Jaylen Brown (25) combined for 59 points and five 3-pointers. Veteran forward Al Horford added six more from 3-point range. Boston’s effort on the glass helped demoralize Denver, and neither of the Nuggets’ defensive aces Kentavious Caldwell-Pope nor Boston-bred Bruce Brown could contain the Celtics’ fantastic duo.
