The Nuggets almost survived to Jokic’s return. They were down 88-84. The last minute without him was a near-death sentence, though. Sam Hauser knocked down a transition drive-and-kick 3-pointer to bring the house down with 8:11 to go, highlighting a 6-0 burst.

Denver took the defending champion Boston Celtics down to the wire but lost, 110-103, on Sunday afternoon. The Nuggets were down by as many as 20 points but rallied with a big fourth-quarter comeback. They got the lead down to just 4 points, yet Boston hung on.

Jaylen Brown scored 22 points and Derek White hit a floater from the foul line with less than a minute left on Sunday to help the Boston Celtics recover after blowing most of a 20-point, first-half lead and beat the Denver Nuggets 110-103.