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Two very different teams.

Celtics win most home games.
Denver wins 50% of their road games.
That does not favor Denver!

Celtics are a great fast break team.
The Nuggets are a great offensive rebounding team (which is usually higher against fast break teams).
This will be an important stat IMO - do the Celtics get their fastbreaks or do the Nuggets slow them down by getting lots of offensive rebounds?

Will Horford and/or Hayward play? Not sure.

Know I've used this cliche' before but this is the time of year and the type of game that will test the metal of this team.

GO NUGGETS !!

At home, we are NBA #1 team this season, but on the road, we are not better even than current #8 seeds on West and the East, Clippers and Miami. Last season we are even much worse on the road (just 15-26!), but the fact is that in the last month of that regular season we changed our on-road attitude and mindset, and played much better, trying to reach the playoff. I hope this season we will also start to play away games on a higher level last month of the regular season, which would be a key factor to hold current WC#2 spot. Out of 9 away games until the end of the regular season, 7 are against NBA TOP11 teams, so we really need that higher level, and only in that case, we have chances to beat elite opponents like @Boston.

another day another game where Malone needs to BENCH BARTON

Barton actually played very good. It's Gary who's cold tonight, not to mention IT who probably got on the floor only to receive some love from the stands, but hopefully won't be back in the 2nd half.

U hova wrote:another day another game where Malone needs to BENCH BARTON

In terms of efficacy, Barton and Beasley switch their usual roles in first half.

Scratch that, Barton has been awful in the 3rd.

Sgt Major wrote:Scratch that, Barton has been awful in the 3rd.

Yeah, Barton being Barton in the 3rd quarter with 4 turnovers in a single quarter... but unlike in 1st half, our bench looks much better. I'm already happy with this game even if we lose it. Denver playing tough on the road vs strong opponent is always nice to see.

man Craig is playing nice

THE J0KER wrote:

Sgt Major wrote:Scratch that, Barton has been awful in the 3rd.

Yeah, Barton being Barton in the 3rd quarter with 4 turnovers in a single quarter... but unlike in 1st half, our bench looks much better. I'm already happy with this game even if we lose it. Denver playing tough on the road vs strong opponent is always nice to see.

Yep, bench had a great game, bar IT and Plum.

Best part of this win ??? The implosion over in the BOS forum....

Swept them 2 of the past 3 years !!!

Good Barton, Bad Barton. Man, It's so frustrating watching him play. I can't wait until he's gone. I was watching every Denver game calm, cool and excited until he came back.

Not sure, but I believe we clinched a playoff spot with this win, Way to go Nuggets !!!

Denver on the road has a problem to stay the focused whole game, which usually doesn't have in Pepsi Center. But today it is Boston who has such problem, not Nuggets, so we have at some point 13-0 run in the 1st half and 11-0 in the 2nd. Jokic played 36 minutes, which should be standard minutes for him in tight and important games, and with such playing time 21-13-7 (9-14FG, +2 steals) great numbers are no surprise, but he deserves some extra credit for three threes and three blocks. Credit also to Millsap for a double-double and another good game after ASG, and Barton in the 1st half, and Monte Morris in 2nd are very good both. But real hero today was Craig with 13-8-2 (5-7FG) in about 20 minutes, and in last 2 seconds of 3rd quarter Craig stole the momentum of the game with 5 straight points.

skywalker33 wrote:Know I've used this cliche' before but this is the time of year and the type of game that will test the metal of this team.

GO NUGGETS !!

IRON MEN !!

skywalker33 wrote:Not sure, but I believe we clinched a playoff spot with this win, Way to go Nuggets !!!

Yes we did! No more KO games this time for that final playoff spot.

What an enjoyable game! Denver won the first two quarters, barely; then lost the third quarter by just a bit and then destroyed Boston in the fourth quarter - but not with defense like we've seen. The fourth quarter was about offense.

I thought Barton played well in the first half but it's as if his success goes to his head and he thinks he's superman. Five turnovers and I believe all in the second half? He had some defensive lapses that negate his nice scoring.

Millsap - double-double - that's good enough!

Jokic had a nice double-double also but I surely do wish he'd at least look at the basket. Every team plays him to pass the ball and that makes the passes more difficult. If they were worried about him shooting more, it would certainly change the dynamics of the games.

Harris was 1-6 from 2pt and 4-7 from 3pt. His defense was vital.

Murray had a decent game, but Boston played to limit his scoring and they were succssful. Maybe they should have focused more on winning.

I thought Thomas played fairly well on both ends of the court and at least he didn't try to dominate. I truly hoped he'd be an impact player for us but he just doesn't fit.

Morris has proven stats don't tell the whole story - love his game.

Plumlee & Beasley struggled but Craig had a GREAT game!

I loved the Millsap to Craig entry pass, I don't think anybody outside of Millsap and Craig saw that one coming.

Barton was Barton, hard to get mad when that is just who he is and who he is always going to be.

Man the Celtics played great defense on Murray last night, they really stopped him. Maybe they will continue to focus on him in the future, we can use the wins.

I thought it was cool of Malone to give Thomas a few minutes, although it could have been a few less minutes, the guy got a tribute video and all and deserved to have fans cheer for him. Now I hope the next time we see him on a court is when he is playing for Boston next year on a prove it deal.

Good road win with the Nuggets being more dominate than the score showed due to Thomas getting so much time.