Celtics’ 31-3 run stops Nuggets

Brad Stevens could sense the game slipping away. He could feel the rim-rattling dunks and the transition buckets coming.

Instead of Boston bowing to the NBA’s hottest team, though, the Celtics used an epic 31-3 run to halt the Denver Nuggets’ eight-game winning streak with a stunning 105-87 win on Sunday.

“We just needed something to get us going,” Stevens said after his Celtics won for the fifth time in six games. “You know, I thought we were close to going the other way there when it was 76-62.”

Jayson Tatum (illness) and Jaylen Brown (knee) fueled the comeback despite being listed as questionable before tip-off.

Tatum finished with 28 points two days after a career-best 53-point performance against Minnesota, and Brown had 20.

The Nuggets looked well on their way to their ninth straight win when they took a 79-65 lead late in the third quarter on a 3-pointer by Facundo Campazzo.

That’s when Brown got hot and Kemba Walker had a rim-rattling dunk that energized the Celtics, who scored the last nine points of the quarter.

The Celtics then scored the first six of the fourth quarter to grab their first lead of the game with 10:32 remaining on Romeo Langford’s free throw.

NHL COLUMBUS TRADES FOLIGNO

>> Nick Foligno’s time in Columbus is over, with the Blue Jackets trading their longtime captain to the Toronto Maple Leafs to chase the Stanley Cup.

Columbus received a 2021 first- and 2022 fourth-round pick from Toronto as part of the three-team trade completed Sunday that also involves the San Jose Sharks. The Blue Jackets added their second first-round pick in as many days for a prominent player while agreeing to retain half of Foligno’s $5.5 million salary-cap hit.

“Given where we are right now, this move made sense for us as an organization and for Nick,” Blue Jackets general manager Jarmo Kekalainen said.

Toronto also acquired forward Stefan Noesen from San Jose, which got a fourth-round pick in this year’s draft for retaining 25% of Foligno’s salary.

It’s a similar trade to the one Columbus made Saturday by sending defenseman David Savard to the Tampa Bay Lightning for a first-rounder this year and thirdrounder next year. The Blue Jackets are stockpiling high draft picks by selling ahead of the NHL trade deadline after falling out of playoff contention.

Foligno has seven goals and nine assists for 16 points in 42 games.

DAVID ZALUBOWSKI — THE ASSOCIATED PRESS The Celtics’ Jayson Tatum, right, pulls in a rebound as the Nuggets’s Nikola Jokic defends in the second half April 11 in Denver.