Can the Boston Celtics be motivated to face the Nuggets by their shocking loss to the Cavaliers?

The Boston Celtics lost one of the most bizarre basketball games of the 2023-24 NBA season when they blew the biggest fourth-quarter lead in franchise history against a depleted Cleveland Cavaliers team on March 5 in The Land.

Missing an All-Star in Donovan Mitchell and another starter in Max Strus, the Cavs looked like an undermanned unit for the first three quarters. Midway through the third period, they even lost Evan Mobley to a nasty ankle injury that forced him out for the remainder of the game.

Then came the fourth quarter. When chaos ensued.

Up 93-71 with just under nine minutes to go, the Celtics blew a 22-point lead to the tune of a ridiculous 34-13 Cleveland run. During that stretch, the Cavs averaged 3.8 points per minute of game time while the Cs averaged an ice-cold 1.4 points per minute.

It took a perfect storm to finally upend Boston Celtics

While the Cavs deserve high praise for their 105-104 victory, the Celtics faced a perfect storm of red-hot Cavs shooting and not-so-hot C’s shooting. Just two days after they demolished the Golden State Warriors with 25 threes on a 51% clip, the fourth-quarter Celtics couldn’t hit water if they were aiming for the ocean.

In truly shocking fashion, the Celtics did not hit a single jump shot in the fourth. Meanwhile, Cleveland shot 8/11 from the 3-point line in the quarter. Unexpected hero Dean Wade came off the Cavs bench to lead the inspired comeback with a career-high 23 points on 6/9 shooting from distance.

The Celtics will have a day of rest to prepare for their upcoming marquee matchup with the defending champion Denver Nuggets. Their crazy Cavs collapse could provide extra motivation for a bounce-back win.

Boston has suffered back-to-back losses once this season — all the way back in November if you can remember — and the league’s top-ranked team has responded to some of its more memorable defeats with impressive win streaks.