The Nuggets got one of their best wins of the season on Wednesday night, pulling away in the second half to dominate the 39-20, second-place in the Eastern Conference, Boston Celtics, 103-84. Denver was still playing without Aaron Gordon and Peyton Watson, and they lost Jamal Murray early in the game, who was battling through an illness, but they managed to put forth one of their best defensive performances of the season, nonetheless.
It was especially impressive to do it against one of the best and hottest teams in the league, a group from Boston that had won 9 of their last 10 games, coming into town on a four-game winning streak with candidates for Coach of the Year in Joe Mazzulla and MVP in Jaylen Brown.
But as great as all of that was - and it was great - it’s important to add some context to what happened on Wednesday night in Ball Arena. The Celtics were playing a back-to-back, and their third game in four nights, after winning against the Lakers in LA on Sunday and beating the Suns in Phoenix on Tuesday.
They had to turn around and fly to Denver to face a well-rested Nuggets team at altitude. To be fair, that’s pretty much a death sentence for just about any team in the history of the league. The Celtics battled for a half, but they clearly hit a wall and ran out of gas.
Teams playing three games in four days are at a major disadvantage
The Nuggets deserve credit for taking advantage and putting them away, but this wasn’t anywhere close to the best effort from the Celtics. It’s still a great win for the Nuggets, but it’s a shame we didn’t get to see them battle one of the league’s best teams on a level playing field in this marquee, national television spot.
We’ve seen a very similar thing play out working against the Nuggets multiple times just recently. They started February with three road games in three days, playing the Thunder on the 1st, then at the Pistons on the 3rd, and at the Knicks on the 4th. Unsurprisingly, the Nuggets lost all three of those games.
Then just last week, the Nuggets came out of the break to a back-to-back on Thursday and Friday night, then had to play a third game in four days with an early afternoon spot on Sunday in Golden State, which ended up being a lethargic, late-game letdown loss.
Nobody likes to make excuses, but this is a pretty valid one, and a constant, recurring theme for every team in the league. It’s ridiculous that the NBA won’t change its schedule to shorten the season and get rid of back-to-backs to give fans the level of competitiveness they deserve in the regular season, but that’s just life in 2026.