The Celtics led the Nuggets by 14 points early on in the second half.
Then they led by only five after Denver made a 6-0 spurt late in the third quarter.
Thankfully, Boston responded in kind… and then some.
The C’s answered by scoring eight straight points to bump their lead back up to 13, and after Will Barton hit a free throw for Denver with 6.8 seconds left in the third, Kelly Olynyk went coast-to-coast for a buzzer-beating, and-one layup. Olynyk’s bucket gave Boston its largest lead of the night to that point, at 86-71.
Those were the only three points that Olynyk scored during the run. Jae Crowder scored four, Isaiah Thomas dropped in three, and Evan Turner pitched in two. The spurt took just two minutes and two seconds to complete.
Boston led by 15 heading into the final quarter and ran away with the win from there. They eventually pulled ahead by as many as 22 points after Turner threw down a loud slam on a fast break early on in the fourth. Denver never cut the lead to single digits from that point on, as the C’s cruised to a 111-103 victory.
Amir Johnson doesn’t get much love for his stats. On this night, he’d better.
Johnson quietly logged his second double-digit rebound performance in his last three contests, grabbing a team-high 13 Wednesday night against Denver. Interestingly, he grabbed more offensive boards (seven) than he did defensive boards (six).
What also may strike you as interesting is the fact that Johnson tied for the game high in assists. Johnson, a big man who averages only 1.7 assists per night, more than tripled that average by handing out six helpers. He tied Evan Turner in the category.
It didn’t stop there. The big man also contributed nine points, three steals and a block during his 30 minutes of action.
Brad Stevens on Kelly Olyny’s outside shooting.
