Nuggets clinch playoff berth with 114-105 win over Celtics

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.

(AP)