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The Celtics continued their strong play as of late and pushed their winning streak to four games with a 111-103 win against the Nuggets Wednesday night at the Garden. Boston got off to a quick start behind Avery Bradley and had the game in control the rest of the way.
The defense was a for the C's, especially in the first half. Bradley seemingly knew what rookie Emmanuel Mudiay was going to do before he did, and Jae Crowder's super quick hands were on display as well. The Celtics compiled 11 steals in the half, and despite only five points from Isaiah Thomas, held a 55-45 lead at the half.
Isaiah responded to his slow start with 11 points in the third quarter, helping the Celtics to extend their lead. Kelly Olynyk, who continued his hot shooting and aggressive play, capped the quarter with a beautiful coast to coast drive. The Canadian has been playing with such confidence lately.
The fourth quarter was more of the same, with Evan Turner hitting a circus deep two and following it up with a big dunk, pushing the lead to 22. The Nuggets made a run midway through the quarter, but Thomas and Crowder returned to keep the Nuggets at bay.
Other Observations
-Avery was on fire in the first half, putting up 21 points on 8-13 from the field and 5-9 from three. He finished with 27.
-Though Avery played him tough, Mudiay displayed his strength driving to the rim, finishing through contact on multiple occassions.
-The Nuggets Jokic/Nurkic combination is awesome. Tommy agreed, saying Avery on one drive "left Jokic looking for Nurkic!" He followed that up with a Who's on First routine. Only Tommy.
-Crowder's hands are amazingly quick.
-Danilo Gallinari is such a smooth player, it's apparent how well he would fit in with the Celtics. He had several drives that he finished off with sweet finger rolls.
-Will Barton can score.
-A couple big Kenneth Faried dunks brought back a personal flashback of when he viciously dunked on me off an alley oop at the Rumble in the Bronx AAU tournament, breaking one of the hoops at Fordham in the process.