BOSTON >> For just a moment, a loose basketball was unclaimed in the lane, representing a chance that had eluded the Nuggets all game: a chance to tie

They just cut their deficit to three. They had gotten the ensuing stop. But Jaylen Brown’s missed shot was tapped into no man’s land, in the middle of the paint. Derrick White came swooping in from the perimeter and buried a second-chance floater. It gave the Celtics a five-point lead with 53.7 seconds remaining, driving a nail in Denver’s coffin Sunday in a 110-103 loss.

“You’re never looking for moral victories,” coach Michael Malone said, “but when I walk out of this arena today, I feel really good about our group.”

On a day when Jayson Tatum struggled to score against Christian Braun and company, Brown picked up the slack with 22 points for Boston, often hunting Jamal Murray on isolations and post-ups. White, the Denver-area native and CU alum, added 17 points including the game-sealing bucket.

Murray overcame early foul trouble and four first-half shot attempts to finish with 26 points and seven assists. But after White’s floater, he turned it over on the next possession while the Nuggets (39-22) trailed by five, leading to a run-out layup.

“Down the stretch, I thought we just had some costly turnovers where we didn’t get a shot off,” Malone said. “That could have maybe changed the outcome.”

“Those ones against good teams hurt,” Murray said. “Especially when we’ve been clawing back all game, down all game.”

Braun added 24 points. Nikola Jokic went for 20 points, 14 rebounds and nine assists after starting the game with a mysterious limp. “I’ve limped basically the last 14 years,” he said, deflecting questions about the cause but claiming it didn’t occur during the opening jump ball. “It was just a little injury that I had.”

Denver mixed up its auxiliary starting lineup with Aaron Gordon missing his second consecutive game to recover from a left ankle sprain. On Friday in Detroit, Malone started Zeke Nnaji at power forward but mentioned the possibility of going small with Michael Porter Jr. at the four as well. That’s the look he went to in Boston — Russell Westbrook filling in as the fifth starter, joining a backcourt with Murray and Braun.

“Just their matchups,” Malone said when asked about his thinking behind the rotations. “You had Tobias Harris in Detroit, and you had Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum tonight. Just matchups.”

Nnaji played eight minutes off the bench. Meanwhile, Celtics coach Joe Mazzulla started Luke Kornet for the first time since Feb. 8, trying a double-big lineup against Jokic even without Kristaps Porzingis available. Al Horford was a major factor, contributing 19 points on 7 of 12 shooting.Boston steadily assembled a 20-point lead in the first half, spraying 10 threes and taking away the paint from Denver.

Westbrook and Braun were invited to shoot. Both struggled to convert from the perimeter.

But Braun started chipping into the deficit late in the half, creating his own shot off the dribble to lead a 9-0 Nuggets run.

He led all scorers at the break with 16.

“Teams game plan it. They’re gonna let guys like Christian and Russ and whoever shoot the ball, to stay home and crowd the paint,” Malone said. “… So the delicate balance is in the fact that hey, you’re open, you’re wide open, we want you to step in and shoot it with confidence. But there also comes a point in time when, hey, we only shot 13 free throw attempts. We also have to find a way to play with an attack mindset. Attack the rim.”

The Celtics answered Denver with their own 9-0 run. Malone took a timeout early in the second half. Before the game, he had highlighted the need to “make sure your players are awake, ready to go” ahead of the rare matinee because “this team can jump all over you. … Do you have the poise and the mental toughness to stay with it?”

The Nuggets stuck with it. They tightened up defensively, allowing them to hang around just long enough for Murray to get into a rhythm. He led a 13-3 push to end the third. Denver was within six, but facing a crucial stretch without Jokic that ended with a 6-0 Celtics burst. Sam Hauser hit a transition 3-pointer to bring the house down with 8:11 to go.

Julian Strawther wasn’t able to play with Denver’s bench unit after going down with a leg injury in the third. Jalen Pickett played the first stint of the fourth quarter instead.

“I was just happy that it wasn’t anything serious,” Malone said. “That was my first fear, was that it was going to be one of those scary injuries. But I think it was more his knee, but I haven’t really gotten much clarification on that. I don’t think it’s anything that we have to worry about moving forward.”