A battle between the NBA’s best offenses was decided by Denver’s defense.

The Nuggets produced their stingiest performance of the season in a 103-84 win over the Celtics on Wednesday at Ball Arena. It marked a new low for Boston’s lowest-scoring game of the season. The Knicks are the only other team that has held the Celtics to fewer than 90 points this season.

“They were really good tonight – everybody,” Nuggets coach David Adelman said. “(We) got into the ball, extremely aggressive. I thought taking care of the ball on the other end was just a recipe to survive a bad shooting half, if you play the right way.”

Entering the night, Boston owned the league’s second-best offensive rating, 120, just behind Denver’s 120.9. The Nuggets increased the margin by holding the Celtics to 34.9% shooting from the field and 27.9% from 3-point range. Boston failed to score more than 24 points in any quarter, and Denver held the Celtics to fewer than 20 points in the third and fourth. It helped that Denver only turned it over nine times.

“When we play like that and play hard, we always give ourselves a chance to win a game,” Nikola Jokic said in the postgame locker room.

Jokic led the Nuggets with 30 points, 12 rebounds and six assists, though he needed 28 shots to get there. Tim Hardaway Jr. (14), Julian Strawther (12), Cam Johnson (11) and Jonas Valanciunas (11) also scored in double figures for Denver.

“It was a tough game (against) a good team, a good defensive team,” Jokic said.

“I think we did a really good job today. Yes, usually we win with offense, but today we won with defense.”

Jaylen Brown and Derrick White led the Celtics with 23 and 20 points, respectively. Brown took 21 shots and scored eight of his points off free throws. Christian Braun and Spencer Jones were the primary defenders on the Celtics’ star, but they got help from Hardaway, Bruce Brown, Johnson and Strawther.

“I thought we did a really good job with him then also getting out to their shooters who are extremely impactful,” Adelman said. “Just a really solid win.”

Now, the Nuggets need to take their defense on the road to face Oklahoma City’s fourth-ranked offense and top-ranked defense.

“We have gotten to this point with our win total because of our offense. That’s the bottom line,” Adelman said. “For us to do anything uniquely special this season, our defense has to come along. Tonight was a good example of it, but the challenges will keep coming with OKC next. It’s just got to be a more consistent thing.”

NUGGETS 103, CELTICS 84

What happened: Boston led by three after the first quarter and took a 48-47 lead at halftime. Denver flipped the deficit into a 10-point lead to start fourth and improved to 37-22.

What went right: Denver committed just eight turnovers and finished with a 14-5 advantage in points off turnovers.

What went wrong: Jamal Murray played the first eight minutes but missed the rest of the game with an illness.

Highlight of the night: Tim Hardaway Jr.’s second dunk of the night came off a sharp bounce pass from Nikola Jokic late in the third quarter. Hardaway set a screen in a split action before Jokic found him rolling to the rim for a one-handed dunk that put Denver up one.

Up next: The Nuggets head to Oklahoma City for Friday’s game against the Thunder.