Jayson Tatum had 29 points, Kristaps Porzingis finished with 25 points and 11 rebounds and the visiting Boston Celtics beat the short-handed Denver Nuggets 118-106 on Tuesday night.
Jrue Holiday scored 19 points and Jaylen Brown contributed 14 for the Celtics, who used a strong fourth quarter to break open a close game.
Boston was without guard Derrick White due to an illness.
Russell Westbrook scored 26 points and grabbed nine rebounds for Denver, which played without reigning MVP Nikola Jokic and forward Aaron Gordon. Jokic (illness) missed his fourth game of the season, with Dario Saric starting in his place. Saric didn’t score in his 17 minutes of court time.
Jamal Murray and Julian Strawther each scored 19 points, Michael Porter Jr. had 15 points and 10 rebounds, Peyton Watson contributed 14 points and Christian Braun finished with 12 points for the Nuggets.
Denver led by two twice early in the third quarter, but the Celtics snatched the momentum and were up 86-79 following a Tatum 3-pointer with 1:47 to go in the period. Boston took an 88-83 edge into the fourth.
Strawther tied the game at 88 with a triple just 1:10 into the final frame. It was later 93-93 when the Nuggets went cold, as they failed to score for over four minutes while watching the Celtics go on a decisive 15-0 run that made it 108-93 with 4:29 remaining.
Tatum punctuated the rally with a trio of free throws.
Despite punching back with seven straight points to trim its deficit to 108-100 with 3:26 remaining, Denver didn’t have enough gas in the tank to complete a comeback and lost for the second time in three games.
Boston saw a 15-point lead vanish in the first half and had to settle for a 57-57 tie at the break. By then, the Nuggets already had five scorers in double figures.
