The Boston Celtics’ title defense began with a 107-103 win as they faced off against the Denver Nuggets in Abu Dhabi.
Payton Pritchard led the way for the Celtics with 21 points and 6 assists, shooting 6-12 from three. Jayson Tatum had 12, leading all of the starters after only playing the first half. Nikola Jokic finished with 14 points and 8 rebounds but it wasn’t enough as Boston was able to pull out a win in this back-and-forth game. Al Horford did not play, so Luke Kornet got the start for the Celtics.
1st Quarter
Both teams struggled out of the gate early as the Celtics began the game shooting 2-7 from the field and 0-5 from three. The Nuggets weren’t a whole better in this regard but were able to take an early 13-6 lead halfway through the 1st quarter.
Jayson Tatum’s new jump shot was a topic of conversation during training camp and it looked fluid as he would hit a three and a Derrick White layup would help the Celtics find their groove on offense with a 10-2 run to lead 21-20 at the 3:50 mark. Jaylen Brown would start to get going with a run that included a tough fadeaway, a blocked shot, and a thunderous dunk.
Derrick White would lead the Celtics in scoring with 9 points in the 1st quarter as with the exception of Luke Kornet, Boston’s starting lineup would play the entire quarter. Michael Porter Jr would lead the Nuggets with 10 points and Denver would finish on a 12-4 run to lead 32-25. Boston continued to struggle shooting, finishing 10-28 from the field and 3-14 from three.
2nd Quarter
The Celtics bench would open up the 2nd quarter with Jaden Springer and Jordan Walsh getting a shot to play early in the game. Boston would have a run where they would miss three straight threes, grabbing every offensive rebound, leading to a fourth offensive rebound by Walsh that would lead to free throws.
Preseason P was in the building as Payton Pritchard was hot in this quarter dropping 14 points off the bench shooting 4-8 from three. Denver would seemingly have an answer for everything the Celtics threw at them as even with an 11-2 run by Boston, the Nuggets would answer and take a 63-56 lead into halftime and Nikola Jokic was able to do anything he wanted in the first half.
The Celtics shooting was still still an issue finishing the half 19-55 (34.5%) from the field and 10-35 (28.6%) from three. Pritchard led the Celtics in scoring, but Jayson Tatum would have 12 points, 6 rebounds, 5 assists and hit 3 three pointers, hinting that his three ball might be back.
Only the preseason, but Celtics had 10 3’s and 11 offensive rebs in 1st half. Last year, they had only two first halves with at least 10 treys and 10 offensive boards (Dec. 20 vs. Kings, Mar. 18 vs. Detroit)
— Dick Lipe (@DickLipe) October 4, 2024
3rd Quarter
With the starters for both teams done for the day, the bench squad started the 2nd half including Neemias Queta’s first minutes. The Nuggets continued to role, including a 2010’s throwback with a Russell Westbrook assist to a DeAndre Jordan dunk, but the Celtics offense continued to struggle.
Something interesting to note was Jordan Walsh was bringing the ball up the court a lot and overall looked a lot more comfortable than he did in Summer League. Sam Hauser was showing off some defensive intensity as he would take a charge and hit a three on the other end. Pritchard would hit his 5th three of the game with 3:48 to go and the bench unit really started to find a groove together. Luke Kornet looked really good on both ends today as the team looked a lot better with him on the floor.
Payton Pritchard continued to put on a show, doing what he does best hitting a last second three at the buzzer, his 6th three of the game. At the end of the 3rd, the Celtics closed the game going on a 12-2 run and cutting Denver’s lead down to 80-79.
4th Quarter
The Maine Celtics started the 4th quarter as JD Davison, Drew Peterson, and Baylor Scheierman would check in with Walsh and Queta. Both teams would go back and forth to start the quarter highlighted by a huge putback dunk by Jordan Walsh.
Drew Peterson would hit a tough a floater in the lane, Neemias Queta would hit a hook shot, and Jordan Walsh would hit a three to give Boston a 5 point lead. Lonnie Walker and Anton Watson would check in at the 4:16 mark of the 4th quarter and Boston would continue to roll.
Drew Peterson found his shooting stroke hitting back to back threes and JD Davison did hid best Jaylen Brown impression with a block on one end and a lob to Dmytro Skapintsev. With under a minute to go Trey Alexander would strip Peterson leading to a Jahmir Young layup with 13.5 seconds left. The Nuggets would then foul Davison who hit two free throws and Young would hit 1 free throw and intentionally miss the 2nd but the Celtics would retain possession. Davision hit two more free throws to seal the 107-103 win for the Celtics.
The Celtics will stay in Abu Dhabi for their next preseason game on Sunday morning October 6th at 10am et.
