The star of the fourth quarter between the Nuggets and the Celtics was a yellow level.
A big dunk by Robert Williams off an alley-oop from Jaylen Brown bent the Celtics’ rim at Ball Arena in Denver midway through the fourth quarter, leading to a delay that stretched past 30 minutes as arena workers with ladders broke out their wrenches to straighten it out.
The game between the Celtics and the Nuggets has been delayed for over 20 minutes now because the rim is uneven.
— ClutchPoints (@ClutchPointsApp) January 2, 2023
The rim got messed up on this alley-oop dunk by Robert Williams 🤣pic.twitter.com/28kVleChU0
Players tried everything they could to stay warm during the delay, which came with the Nuggets leading 110-97 with 6:43 remaining.
KCP is literally jumping rope near the #Nuggets bench and Jokic is running suicides. Marcus Smart is sitting down near the #Nuggets free throw line.
— gary washburn (@GwashburnGlobe) January 2, 2023
The arena was soon running out of scoreboard entertainment as multiple attempts to fix the rim were fruitless.
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Here at Ball Arena, they just finished the long version of "Fight for Your Right to Party" and now just finished another "Kiss Cam." They are running out of in-game entertainment here. #Celtics #Nuggets
— gary washburn (@GwashburnGlobe) January 2, 2023
They eventually just started playing the longest songs in the jukebox.
Ball Arena now playing Bohemian Rhapsody and the crowd is really digging it. This is surreal. #Celtics #Nuggets
— gary washburn (@GwashburnGlobe) January 2, 2023
During the break, former Nugget Danilo Gallinari, who has been out all season after tearing his ACL in EuroBasket, caught up with some of his former co-workers, while Grant Williams made conversation with Nuggets players.
We’ve got a two-ladder situation here with Rocky the mascot looking to help. #Celtics #Nuggets. pic.twitter.com/nNq8m8RYUh
— gary washburn (@GwashburnGlobe) January 2, 2023
“I’ve never been a part of anything like this,” said Brian Scalabrine on the NBC Sports Boston broadcast as workers eventually removed the rim from the backboard and replaced it.
The replacement rim solved the issue and players began warming up to resume the game.
The ladders are being removed and the Ball Arena crowd cheers like crazy. Now we're going to need a warmup period. #Celtics #Nuggets
— gary washburn (@GwashburnGlobe) January 2, 2023
The game resumed at 10:37 after a 40-minute delay, and almost immediately Marcus Smart was whistled for an unironic delay of game.
The Nuggets didn’t let Boston get within single digits the rest of the way, winning 123-111 to snap Boston’s four game winning streak.
Brendan Kurie can be reached at brendan.kurie@globe.com.