The Denver Nuggets are headed back to the postseason after a six-year drought.
Nikola Jokic had 21 points and 13 rebounds and the Nuggets rallied in the fourth quarter to beat the Boston Celtics 114-105 on Monday night and clinched their first playoff berth since 2012-13.
Will Barton added 20 points for Denver, which has won four straight. The Nuggets (47-22) are tied with Golden State for the best record in the Western Conference.
The Nuggets won 46 games last season, but missed the playoffs after losing in overtime to Minnesota on the final day of the regular season. This season their 47th victory proved to be their charm.
“It’s a great feeling,” Denver coach Michael Malone said. “Four years in the making. Two years in a row coming up just shy, one game short. Using that as a motivation for tonight’s moment.”
Smiles were everywhere in the Nuggets locker room afterward.
“Yesss sir!” Jamal Murray beamed. “We’re just going to take this. We’re going to take a moment to realize how far we’ve come. It’s good to look ahead and enjoy the moment at the same time.”
Kyrie Irving led the Celtics (43-28) with 30 points. Al Horford finished with 20 points, six rebounds and six assists.
It was Boston’s second loss in seven games.
“You gotta play well for 48 minutes against those guys,” Irving said. “They’ve come back from 18 down, 17 down. They keep firing.”
The Celtics are fifth in the East, 1½ games behind fourth-place Indiana and 2½ games behind Philadelphia, whom they visit on Wednesday.
The game felt like a matchup between two postseason-bound teams.
It stayed tight at the start of the second half, with neither team holding more than a two-possession lead in the third quarter.
But the Nuggets got some breathing room in the final period and took a 106-94 lead with 3:47 left in the game.
Boston scored seven straight to get it within five, but Barton stopped the run with a layup. Following a missed 3-pointer by Horford on the other end, Paul Millsap all but sealed it with a four-point play that made it 112-101 with 31.3 seconds remaining.
TIP-INS
Nuggets: Jokic recorded his 39th double-double of the season.
Celtics: Played without Gordon Hayward (concussion protocol) and Robert Williams (illness).
FAST HALF
The pace was rapid throughout the first half.
The teams combined for 107 points in the opening 24 minutes. Nuggets held the 55-52 halftime lead, with Jokic and Barton scoring 13 points apiece.
Irving started the game 1 for 9 from the field, but Horford picked up the scoring load for the Celtics, connecting on 5 of his 9 attempts from the field.
THOMAS RETURNS
Isaiah Thomas received lots of love from the Celtics during his latest return to the city he said still feels like home despite multiple stops the past two seasons.
A video highlighting Thomas’ time in Boston was shown during a timeout in the first quarter and ended with an extended standing ovation from fans and players and coaches from both teams.
Denver coach Michael Malone previously informed Thomas he was being dropped from the rotation in preparation for the playoffs. But he inserted the 5-foot-9 guard into the game with 2:42 left in the first quarter.
Thomas started slowly missing two shots, stepping out bounds and fouling Daniel Theis on his way in for a dunk. He started the second quarter and played a total of seven minutes for the game, finishing with no points and two assists.
A two-time All-Star in Boston, Thomas was blindsided by the trade that sent him to the Cleveland Cavaliers as part of the deal that brought Kyrie Irving to the Celtics in the summer of 2017. He was dealt to the Lakers at the trade deadline that next season, before landing in Denver this past summer.
He says the hip injury that slowed him during his final season in Boston is healed and that whatever happens he is going into free agency this summer with open eyes. That includes being open to a possible return to Boston.
“You never know what could happen,” Thomas said. “My options are always open no matter what it is. If I end up back here at some point. That would make the story that much better.”
UP NEXT
Nuggets: At Washington on Thursday.
AROUND THE NBA MONDAY
— DeMar DeRozan had 26 points and nine rebounds, LaMarcus Aldridge added 23 points and 13 rebounds and the San Antonio Spurs beat the Golden State Warriors 111-105 for their ninth straight win. San Antonio won its 11th straight at home and moved into fifth in the Western Conference at 42-29 following Oklahoma City’s loss to Miami.
— Damian Lillard had 30 points and 15 assists as the Portland Trail Blazers beat the Indiana Pacers 106-98 on Monday night without starting guard CJ McCollum. Jusuf Nurkic added 18 points and 11 rebounds for the Blazers, who led by as many as 21. Portland has won four of five and is holding onto fourth place in the Western Conference. The Pacers missed out on clinching a playoff spot in the East.
— Rudy Gobert had 14 points and 14 rebounds, Donovan Mitchell scored 19 and the Utah Jazz won their fourth straight by beating the Washington Wizards 116-95. Gobert, the reigning Western Conference Player of the Week, was perfect from the field for Utah, which started the night seventh in the West, one-half game behind San Antonio.
— Jeremy Lin scored 20 points, Fred VanVleet had 13 points and 12 assists, and the Toronto Raptors beat the New York Knicks 128-92. The victory came at a cost to the Raptors, who saw guard Kyle Lowry leave in the third quarter after suffering an injured right ankle.
—Dirk Nowitzki passed Wilt Chamberlain for sixth place on the NBA’s career scoring list, but Elfrid Payton had his fifth straight triple-double to help the New Orleans Pelicans beat the Dallas Mavericks 129-125 in overtime. Nowitzki had eight points, giving him 31,424 in his 21 seasons — trailing only Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Karl Malone, Kobe Bryant, LeBron James and Michael Jordan.
— Goran Dragic had 26 points and 11 assists, Dwyane Wade added 25 points and the Miami Heat took advantage of Russell Westbrook’s absence to beat the Oklahoma City Thunder 116-107. Miami entered the game in eighth place in the Eastern Conference. The Heat snapped a six-game losing streak against Oklahoma City, which now has lost nine of its last 13 games to fall to sixth in the Western Conference.
— Robin Lopez scored 24 points to help the Chicago Bulls beat the Phoenix Suns 116-101 on Monday night, snapping a five-game losing streak. Zach LaVine had 17 points, eight rebounds and seven assists, and Lauri Markkanen added 17 points and nine boards for Chicago. Deandre Ayton had 25 points and 12 rebounds, and Devin Booker also scored 25 for Phoenix, which has lost three of four after a 5-2 stretch.
–Collin Sexton scored 27 points, including the go-ahead 3-pointer with just under two minutes to play, and the Cleveland Cavaliers defeated the Detroit Pistons 126-119 on Monday night. Both teams were missing star players. Blake Griffin (rest) sat out for Detroit, while Kevin Love was out with a sore back for Cleveland after taking a hard fall in Saturday’s loss to Dallas. Andre Drummond nearly made up for Griffin’s absence with 21 points and 21 rebounds, but the Cavaliers hit clutch shots down the stretch against a Pistons team that is fighting for a playoff spot in the Eastern Conference.