Jaylen Brown finished with a game-high 33 points on 14-of-29 shooting, including 4-of-6 from deep and 7 rebounds, while Derrick White and Payton Pritchard each scored 17 points respectively but on a combined 12-of-32 from the field and 4-of-18 from behind the arc.
"For me, every time I get the ball, I'm looking to be aggressive -- if I feel contact, I'm gonna go through it," Brown said in his postgame comments about lack of calls. "I'm gonna go strong. But tonight, it just -- I just was getting blank faces when I was asking officials [about the calls]."
Anfernee Simons added 15 points and Luka Garza also chipped in 11 points off the bench while Neemias Queta recorded 6 points and a career-high 20 rebounds (tying a franchise record of 10 offensive boards) in less than 25 minutes of action for the Celtics, who fell to 23-13 on the season and a half-game behind the New York Knicks for second place in the East.
Meanwhile, Peyton Watson lead the way for Denver with 30 points and Jamal Murray did his best Jokic impersonation with a near triple-double of 22 points (8-of-18), 8 rebounds, 17 assists and Tim Hardaway Jr. scored 14 on 4-of-8 from 3-point territory off the bench to lead the Nuggets to a 25-12 record and two-straight wins to wrap their seven-game road trip at 3-4.
In a back and forth matchup that was missing two of the league's biggest stars in Jokic (knee) and Jayson Tatum (Achilles), there were 26 lead changes and nine ties before the Nuggets used a 14-0 run midway through the fourth quarter to go ahead for good.
With the Celtics trailing 106-93 with 2:24 left to play, they used a 17-4 spurt of their own to cut the deficit to three but it was too little too late down the stretch with 6.5 seconds remaining.
Brown in the final seven minutes committed three of his seven total turnovers and three fouls during what proved to be the Nuggets' game-winning run and Boston never recovered, as they played from behind the rest of the way.
"Obviously we had some empty possessions on offense," Joe Mazzulla told reporters when asked about what went wrong during Denver's fourth period run. "They did a good job versus our aggressive pick and roll coverage."
The Celtics will host the Toronto Raptors (23-15) Friday on a first night of a back-to-back, before they face the San Antonio Spurs (26-11) Saturday as part of their current four-game homestand.
Both teams hit 45% of their field goal attempts, but Denver hit 20-of-44 from deep (45%) while the Celtics were 15-of-38 (39%) from long distance. Boston won the rebound battle 53-39 and outscored the visiting team in the paint 48-26. The Nuggets had 27 assists on 39 baskets and only committed nine turnovers to the C's 16 dimes on 43 made shots, but turned the ball over 14 times.
Joel Pavón
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