The 2024-25 Denver Nuggets are, statistically speaking, the worst NBA team in over a decade when their three-time MVP is not on the floor.

But even without superstar center Nikola Jokic, who was a late scratch due to illness, Denver gave the Celtics a serious scare Tuesday night at Ball Arena. It took a late surge by Boston to turn a tie game early in the fourth quarter into a deceptively lopsided win, with the Celtics prevailing 118-106 to cap a 3-1 Western Conference road trip.

Kristaps Porzingis turned in arguably his best game since his return from offseason leg surgery, finishing with 25 points and 11 rebounds (including five offensive boards) and an emphatic fourth-quarter block on DeAndre Jordan. Jayson Tatum scored 29 points, was a game-best plus-23 and had two of the Celtics’ seven blocks.

Boston also totaled 11 steals in the win, including four by Al Horford and two each by Porzingis and Jrue Holiday (19 points, seven assists), who was instrumental in the late rally that put the game away.

Though they did not have a Jokic-level hole in their lineup, the Celtics were playing without starting guard Derrick White and reserve forward Jordan Walsh (both inactive because of illness).

The Nuggets entered Tuesday with a net rating of minus-14.8 when Jokic sits. The last NBA team to post a mark that low was the 2011-12 Charlotte Bobcats. With Jokic on the court, they had a net rating of 11.0, which would rank third in the league this season.

Jokic’s struggling supporting cast stepped up, though, aided by uncharacteristically strong 3-point shooting performances by Russell Westbrook (4-for-9), Julian Strawther (3-for-5) and Peyton Watson (3-for-5). Westbrook scored 26 to lead Denver, with Strawther and Jamal Murray each adding 19.

Porzingis got off to his best start of the season with 15 first-quarter points. He absorbed a shot to a sensitive area while leaping for a put-back but remained in the game after a brief trip to the bench.

“I thought he was big-time tonight on both ends of the floor,” Celtics head coach Joe Mazzulla told reporters postgame. “For this season, for the way that smalls are going on him, I thought it was the most physical that he was, and I thought that was the most intentional we were about not only getting him the ball but getting him into the paint against smaller matchups.”

Twice in the opening quarter, the Celtics turned a block into points at the other end. Tatum engineered the first, swatting Christian Braun at the rim and then lofting a fast-break alley-oop to Porzingis. On the second, Kornet denied Zeke Nnaji, leading to a Payton Pritchard three in transition.

Tatum missed all five of his 3-point attempts in the first quarter, but he went to work inside, starting 4-for-5 from two and 3-for-3 from the foul line. His first eight makes all came inside the restricted area as Boston exploited a Denver defense that struggles to guard the paint even when Jokic is active (27th in the NBA). The Celtics scored 20 points in the paint before the Nuggets scored their third.

That gulf narrowed as the game progressed, but Boston still finished with 60 paint points, far above their per-game season average of 41.9.

The Celtics led 37-25 after one quarter, then went up 15 early in the second after Porzingis stripped Russell Westbrook and fed Sam Hauser for an open three. The game could have spiraled for Denver from that point, but it proceeded to control play for the next 10 minutes.

Between Hauser’s three and halftime, the Nuggets outscored the Celtics 29-14, including a 13-2 run with Tatum on the bench. Their outside shooting was more efficient than Boston’s, and Murray began finding pockets of space in the lane. Apparent positioning errors by Neemias Queta created some of these holes, though the reserve center stabilized over the course of his eight-minute shift and delivered some impactful plays on the offensive end.

Five Denver players scored in double figures in the first half, including Watson, whose second corner 3-pointer tied the game at 57-57.

After being held scoreless in the second half against Oklahoma City on Sunday, Jaylen Brown did not make a field goal in the first half against Denver, with his only points coming on two late free throws. He finally began to assert himself after halftime, scoring on back-to-back possessions early in the third quarter and soaring for a transition slam off a Jrue Holiday steal.

Brown also flipped a pass to Porzingis for a dunk after his drive drew three Nuggets defenders. He finished with 14 points, eight rebounds and eight assists, with all of his scoring coming at or near the rim.

Holiday set up the next two Boston buckets, as well, grabbing rebounds on consecutive Denver misses and zipping long-range outlet passes to Brown and Tatum. The veteran guard also hit a three a minute later to give the Celtics a six-point lead.

The Nuggets threatened to cut that to one when Hauser fouled Michael Porter Jr. from behind on a drive. But Mazzulla challenged the call, and the foul was changed to a clean block and a turnover. Hauser, whose hustle gave the scuffling Celtics a boost, hit a three on the ensuing possession.

A subsequent three by Tatum and two Porzingis free throws sent the Celtics into the fourth quarter up 88-83. But Denver quickly erased that deficit, knotting the score 70 seconds into the fourth, then again with 8:23 to play.

That’s when the Celtics finally pulled away. Holiday fed an inbounds pass to Porzingis for a dunk, then drained a three, then assisted on a Brown layup. Then a Tatum steal. Then a Horford three. A Luke Kornet block. A Tatum jumper in the lane to beat the shot clock, followed by a three-point play after he was fouled by Murray.

By the time Westbrook snapped a four-plus-minute Denver scoring drought, Boston had ripped off a 15-0 run. The Nuggets made one final push as time wound down, but they got no closer than eight points.

Opposing personnel notwithstanding, the win and the strong finish allowed the Celtics to wrestle back momentum after they were manhandled in the second half of Sunday’s 105-92 loss at OKC. Now 27-10 on the season, they’ve won four of their last five games and will host the Sacramento Kings back at TD Garden on Friday night.

The Kings have won five straight — the third-longest active streak in the NBA — and are 5-1 since firing former head coach Mike Brown.