Brown helps end Celtics’ skid in win over Nuggets

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  • 2021-02-17 HKT 11:41″ title=”One of Jayson Tatum’s (0) eight assists came as he made a pass while lying on the floor. Photo: Reuters”>


    One of Jayson Tatum's (0) eight assists came as he made a pass while lying on the floor. Photo: Reuters
    One of Jayson Tatum’s (0) eight assists came as he made a pass while lying on the floor. Photo: Reuters

  • 2021-02-17 HKT 11:59″ title=”Fred VanVleet (L) held the fort after Toronto lost Kyle Lowry to an ankle injury. Photo: Reuters”>


    Fred VanVleet (L) held the fort after Toronto lost Kyle Lowry to an ankle injury. Photo: Reuters
    Fred VanVleet (L) held the fort after Toronto lost Kyle Lowry to an ankle injury. Photo: Reuters


Jaylen Brown had 27 points and eight assists to help the Boston Celtics withstand a 43-point night from Nikola Jokic and beat the Denver Nuggets 112-99.

Jayson Tatum added 21 points and eight assists to help Boston bounce back following two anemic performances in back-to-back losses to Detroit and Washington — the Eastern Conference’s bottom two teams.

It was Jokic’s third 40-point game of the season. Jamal Murray added 25 points but Denver had its three-game winning streak snapped.

The Celtics led by as many as 15 in the first half and took an 11-point edge into the fourth quarter. Denver briefly got within seven points, but couldn’t string together a run down the stretch.

The Nuggets were extremely short-handed playing without five rotation players, including Paul Millsap (left knee sprain) and Monte Morris (right shoulder strain).

It left Jokic to pick up the offensive load and he did his best, scoring 15 of the Nuggets’ first 18 points.

But that couldn’t offset the energy by the Celtics, who were active defensively and were able to turn 17 Nuggets turnovers into 23 points.

Boston also got a needed jolt from its bench, which outscored the Denver reserves 30-14.

Elsewhere, Fred VanVleet scored 33 points, Pascal Siakam added 23 and the Toronto Raptors withstood the loss of Kyle Lowry to beat the slumping Milwaukee Bucks 124-113.

Lowry exited with a sore left ankle in the third quarter but had 18 points, six rebounds and six assists in 22 minutes. The ankle problem caused Lowry to go to the locker room late in the first half, though he returned to start the third quarter.

Milwaukee lost its fourth straight despite getting 34 points, 10 rebounds and eight assists from Giannis Antetokounmpo. The Bucks hadn’t dropped four in a row since the 2019 Eastern Conference finals against Toronto, when they blew a 2-0 lead and lost the series in six games. (AP)