Sign up for the Today newsletter
Get everything you need to know to start your day, delivered right to your inbox every morning.
After a tough loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder, the Celtics wrapped up their west coast road trip with a visit to the Mile High City to face off against the Denver Nuggets. With Nikola Jokic ruled out for this game, the Celtics were able to take care of business and defeated the Nuggets 118-106.
Jayson Tatum led the way for the Celtics with 29 points and 11 rebounds on 11-23 shooting while Kristaps Porzingis had one of his best games of the season finishing with 25 points and 11 rebounds on 9-18 shooting. Jrue Holiday had a sneaky great game as well with 19 points and 7 assists as it felt like he was always in the right place at the right time.
While the Celtics’ three ball was lacking, they dominated the paint in this game, winning the points in the paint battle 60-46.
The Celtics offense started with a lot of Kristaps Porzingis touches as he scored the first basket for Boston with a mid-range jumper and 9 of the Celtics first 12 points. The Nuggets looked good on offense as well as Michael Porter Jr., Jamal Murray, and Russell Westbrook carrying the load.
Porzingis finished the first quarter with 15 points on 6-10, including being the recipient of an alley-oop after Jayson Tatum blocked Christian Braun on one end and found Kristaps on the other.
The Celtics led 37-25 lead after the first quarter with their offense was clicking. Boston shot 14-27 (51.9%) in the quarter as the shorthanded Nuggets had no answers for them. Porzingis (15) and Tatum (11) combined for 26 of the Celtics’ 37 points in the quarter. Boston’s paint defense was elite as well, only allowing 2 points in the paint after one.
:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/25822000/2192327591.jpg)
The Celtics continued their hot shooting to start the second quarter, as they opened a 15-point lead on the Nuggets two minutes in. Denver responded with a 13-2 run of their own to cut Boston’s lead to single digits.
Neemias Queta started to make his presence known with three straight buckets for the Celtics as he played some solid minutes for Boston in the quarter, finishing with 8 points.
Jamal Murray started to heat up to end the quarter scoring 8 straight points for Denver as Boston started to struggle to hit shots. Payton Watson started to make an impact on this game with 3 blocks in the first half and a corner three that tied the game 57-57 going into the half.
The Nuggets ended the first half on a 12-4 run and finished with four players with double digit points. Boston started the second quarter well but couldn’t maintain it as their three point shooting hurt them. The Celtics only shot 5-16 (31.3%) from beyond the arc in the half while Denver out shot them going 9-18 (50%) from three.
The Jays were cold in the first half as they combined for 15 points on 5-18 shooting. Jaylen Brown especially struggled, with only 2 points on 0-4 shooting. Kristaps Porzingis was the Celtics leading scorer at the half with 16 points while Jamal Murray led the Nuggets with 15 points.
:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/25822031/2192331164.jpg)
The second half started with Jaylen Brown facilitating the Celtics offense with three straight baskets and a nice assist to Porzingis to start the third quarter. The Nuggets were able to respond as the lead went back and forth.
A very loud “let’s go, Celtics” chant started to rain down in Ball Arena midway through the quarter just as Jrue Holiday grabbed a tough rebound and found a streaking Tatum on the other end for a dunk.
The Celtics were able to hold off the Nuggets with the lineup of Tatum and the bench to secure an 88-83 lead at the end of the third quarter. Jaylen Brown had a bounce back third quarter scoring 8 points on 4-4 shooting. The Celtics were still getting out shot from three, but they dominated the points in the paint battle.
:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/25822079/2192333360.jpg)
The fourth quarter started similarly to the way the third quarter went, both teams trading baskets. The Celtics played some tough defense highlighted by Porzingis meeting DeAndre Jordan at the summit to block a potential poster dunk.
With Denver only having one timeout left midway through the quarter, the Celtics rattled off a 12-0 run to push their lead back up to double digits and force the Nuggets to use their final timeout with under five minutes left in the quarter. That run had everyone involved as it included a Porzingis put back dunk, a Holiday three, a Brown layup, an Al Horford three, and finally a nasty mid-range jumper by Jayson Tatum.
The Nuggets tried to fight back but they just didn’t have enough as Tatum and Holiday buried them down the stretch to give the Celtics the victory.
The Celtics return home for their next game on Friday, January 10th to take on the Sacramento Kings at 7:30 pm.
This is a web edition of GBH Daily, a weekday newsletter bringing you local stories you can trust so you can stay informed without feeling overwhelmed.
Sign up here!
🥵Very hot, with highs around 97 degrees. Sunset is at 8:19 p.m.
GBH’s Dan Murphy captured Abby Evangelista and her corgi, Rocko, at Sail250 this weekend. “Rocko gets dressed up for lots of occasions … sometimes just to go to the store, and he does so great with meeting people,” Evangelista said. Keep reading for more photos from the tall ships.
A year ago today firefighters were extinguishing flames at the Gabriel House, an assisted living facility in Fall River. Ten people died in the fire, a tragedy for their loved ones and a scary moment for about 18,000 people who live in assisted living facilities across the state.
Now state officials have created new regulations for fire safety in assisted living facilities, going into effect later this month. Fire departments will inspect these facilities once a year, and facilities will need to submit emergency plans and train their workers on what to do in case of a fire.
GBH’s Craig LeMoult found that neither the new regulations nor state or federal fire codes address checking sprinkler systems. Some of the sprinklers at the Gabriel House weren’t working the night of the fire, including the ones in the room where it started.
“Had the sprinklers functioned properly, we’re not having this conversation right now. It is maybe a single fatality fire, but certainly not more than that,” Fall River fire chief Jeffrey Bacon told LeMoult. “The good news is that some of the sprinklers did function. And had they not, we would be here talking about 20, 30, 40 victims.” You can read the full story here.
1. Colleagues and friends are remembering Louisa Gag, a Boston transportation planner killed last week when a truck driver hit her as she rode her bike near the Roxbury Crossing MBTA stop. Gag grew up in Roslindale and worked for the city on expanding the BlueBikes bike-share program. Before that, she worked for the LivableStreets Alliance, co-authoring a plan to help cities stop traffic deaths. You can see her talk about her work in this 2019 video.
“In moments like these, there is a tendency to reduce the person to the way they died and to their activism,” said Stacy Thompson, a former executive director of LivableStreets. “While we may know Louisa as a deep champion of the city and a close advocate, she’s also a Boston Latin [School] kid. She’s also, like, the most infectious, hilarious person you’ve ever met. She’s also a daughter. It’s so important to us right now for her life to not be reduced to how she stopped living.”
2. More than 4,000 nurses are back at work at Brigham and Women’s Hospital. They went on a one-day strike last week, and hospital administrators kept them from returning to their jobs for another five days. The Massachusetts Nurses Association and Brigham management have been negotiating a contract for seven months, going back and forth over wages, health insurance premiums and staffing levels.
“It’s exciting, but also frightening,” said Christine Forgeron, a cardiac nurse at Brigham and Women’s Hospital. “I don’t know what to expect when we go back to our patients. What happens next, because we still don’t have a contract,is the most unsettling part.”
3. Michael Walsh, a Republican candidate for state attorney general, will be on the primary ballot in September despite what Superior Court Judge Jeffrey Karp called “substantial evidence in the record of voter fraud.” The case began when Adam Roof, executive director of the Massachusetts Democratic Party, submitted a complaint accusing a signature gatherer Walsh’s campaign hired of either falsifying or not meeting state requirements for 1,021 of the 10,677 signatures they submitted. Candidates for statewide office need 10,000 signatures to get onto the ballot.
Karp said that there was indeed evidence that the signatures came not from voters themselves but from a list of registered voters the state’s Republican party gave the signature gatherer. But the case fell on a technicality: state law required Roof, the Democratic party official, to submit his complaint by certified mail, and he did not do so. The state’s highest court still has to decide what will happen to Anne Manning Martin, a Republican candidate for lieutenant governor who used the same signature gatherer.
4. Residents of towns around the Quabbin Reservoir flooded into the Massachusetts Water Resources Authority meeting last week to ask for a better deal. The Quabbin supplies clean drinking water for dozens of cities and towns in the eastern part of the state. Right now, the state requires towns like Shrewsbury, Belchertown, Orange and Pelham to keep their development in check to keep the Quabbin clean. Though those towns get some money in return, local officials said it’s not enough to cover their costs.
“We are protecting this watershed by foregoing any type of economic development, which is a cornerstone of providing the basics of education [and] public safety,” said state Rep. Aaron Saunders, of Belchertown. “It’s time for a change, and not an incremental one.”
Dan Murphy / GBH News
Tomorrow is the last full day of Sail Boston, the city’s tall ships celebration. The ships will leave our harbor Thursday morning. GBH photographer Dan Murphy was there over the weekend to capture the Parade of Sail.
Dan Murphy / GBH News
The Esmeralda, a ship from Chile, sailed by Castle Island.
Dan Murphy / GBH News
Carolyn Gustine carried her son, Patrick, on her shoulders.
You can see the full photo essay here.
Dig deeper:
–Spectators line Cape Cod Canal to see tall ships make their way to Sail250 in Boston
–The World Cup transformed Greater Boston. Will it last?
–Department of Agricultural Resources celebrates Ice Cream Trail program
Local News
A Boston man is facing charges after he allegedly lunged at a Burger King employee, punched a customer, and then resisted arrest at a nearby MBTA station in East Boston, authorities announced Monday afternoon.
Patrick Donovan, 59, was charged July 1 with one count of assault and battery causing injury on an over 60 or disabled person, assault and battery, disorderly conduct, resisting arrest, assault, and vandalism, Suffolk District Attorney Kevin Hayden’s office said in a press release.
The charges stem from an incident shortly before 10 p.m. on June 30, when Boston police responded to a disturbance call from Burger King at 1 Maverick Square, Hayden’s office said.
A Burger King employee told officers that, after ordering his food and receiving it, Donovan yelled that he no longer wanted it and smacked a napkin holder off the counter. He then allegedly lunged at an employee and grabbed her by the arm, prosecutors said.
Donovan subsequently shoved a customer from behind and allegedly punched him in the face three times while calling him racial slurs, the DA’s office said.
Emergency medical services evaluated the customer for “visible lacerations to the forehead,” but the victim declined additional treatment, authorities said.
Donovan fled the restaurant following the assaults, and officers tracked him to the nearby MBTA Maverick Station, prosecutors said.
“While officers tried to detain Donovan inside the station, he swung at them with a closed fist but did not make contact,” Hayden’s office said, noting that Donovan made racial slurs towards the officers. “Donovan was placed into custody after a brief struggle.”
During his arraignment in the East Boston division of the Boston Municipal Court, Donovan pleaded not guilty and was released on personal recognizance. Court records show he was also ordered to stay away from Maverick Square and Burger King.
He is scheduled to return to court Aug. 7 for a pre-trial hearing, prosecutors said.
Officers obtained security footage of both assaults. Authorities said the incident remains under investigation and could result in further charges.
“Our workers deserve to be safe in their workplaces and our consumers deserve to be safe in their shopping or dining places, without exception,” Hayden said in a statement. “Beyond that, none of our citizens or first responders should be subjected to racial slurs. These appalling words have no place in Suffolk County or anywhere else in our society.”
Attorney information for Donovan was not immediately available Monday afternoon.
Get everything you need to know to start your day, delivered right to your inbox every morning.
A rideshare driver suspected of assaulting a passenger at Boston Logan International Airport on Friday is scheduled to be arraigned on Monday.
Leonard Bacon, 23, was found in Lowell, where he lives, and taken into custody on Sunday, Massachusetts State Police said. He’s charged with assault and battery with a dangerous weapon causing serious bodily injury.
It wasn’t immediately clear if Bacon, who’s due to face the charge in East Boston District Court, had an attorney who could speak for him.
Police didn’t share more details on what Bacon is accused of doing. They’ve previously said that the rideshare passenger entered Terminal C just before 5:30 a.m. and reported that they had been physically assaulted by their driver prior to being dropped off.
After the passenger got out of the vehicle, the rideshare driver left the scene, according to police, who alerted area law enforcement agencies to look out for the suspect. The victim was taken to a Boston-area hospital with non-life-threatening injuries, police added.
Police are looking for a rideshare driver who was reported to have assaulted a passenger right before drop-off at Boston’s Logan airport.
In a statement, Uber said they’ve checked in with the rider and removed the driver’s access to their rideshare platform.
“We are horrified by this reported violence,” a representative for the company said in a statement, adding, “Our specialized team has been in touch with law enforcement, and we will continue to do whatever we can to support their investigation.”
Frontières 2026: Lineup and Highlights from a Zombie Wedding to Thai Folk Horror Noir and a Half-Body Filipino Vampire
Why Supreme Court Justices Are Asking for More Security
Do You Know These Greek Plays and Poems That Were Turned Into Movies?
Why your favorite international artist might be reconsidering their next U.S. tour
Nintendo’s Switch 2 bundle that includes a game is $50 off
Inside Israel’s mission to train civilians to stop the next Oct 7-like terror attack
Trump reveals who he’s eyeing to replace Lindsey Graham
Notable figures who died from the same heart condition linked to Lindsey Graham’s death