Jayson Tatum of the Celtics explains in graphic detail why the Nuggets’ defeat

Published

10 months ago

January 20, 2024

The standout player for the Celtics, Jayson Tatum, expressed his sadness following Friday night’s close loss to the defending champion Nuggets.

Fans were treated to a marquee matchup on Friday night with the Boston Celtics looking to protect their perfect 20-0 record in the friendly confines of TD Garden against the reigning NBA champion Denver Nuggets. This matchup between two of the best teams in the league delivered, with the game going down to the wire. In the end, the Nuggets held on for a 102-100 victory over the Celtics after Jayson Tatum clanked a difficult midrange fadeaway over Kentavious Caldwell-Pope with a chance to send the game to overtime.

Now, this is the kind of game uber-competitive teams such as the Nuggets and Celtics would loathe to lose. While this loss only counts as one on the loss column, Tatum shed light on why it feels much worse than that after they have set such ridiculously high standards for themselves this season.

“We don’t lose a lot, so when we do lose, it feels worse than it is. But it’s still just one game. We played a really good team today, so s**t happens. Just got to get ready for the next one,” Tatum said in his postgame presser, per Jack Simone of SB Nation’s Celtics Blog.

Losing to the Nuggets isn’t the worst outcome in the world, as that team boasts the services of Nikola Jokic and Jamal Murray, two bona fide stars who were at the top of their games on Friday night. But making matters worse for the Celtics is the fact that they had plenty of chances to extend the game in its dying embers, only for them to come up short repeatedly.

In addition to Tatum’s missed shot at the buzzer, the Celtics missed two good shots in the final minute. With 58 seconds remaining, Derrick White missed a corner three of a good Tatum find, and then with around 17 seconds to go in the contest, Tatum failed to convert a difficult layup after getting past four Nuggets defenders with a chance to take the lead.

Those missed opportunities definitely exacerbate the sting of defeat for the Celtics, who only suffered their 10th loss of the season. Jayson Tatum and company will now look to bounce back from their defeat against the Nuggets when they head to the road to face the Houston Rockets on Sunday night.

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