The Boston Celtics swept their preseason games in Abu Dhabi, beating the Denver Nuggets again in Sunday 130-104.
The Jays had a big game today with Jaylen Brown leading the Celtics in scoring with 21 points on 8-16 shooting and Jayson Tatum dropping 17 points on 6-14 shooting. Sam Hauser was also nearly perfect with 15 points and 8 rebounds on 6-7 shooting from the field and 3-3 from three. Nikola Jokic led the Nuggets in scoring with 20 points and and Julian Strawther looked good for Denver with 17 points in the loss.
1st Quarter
Boston started the game cold on the offensive side of the ball for the second game in a row, starting 4-13 from the field and 2-8 from three. Jamal Murray was hot for the Nuggets, scoring 7 of the Nuggets first 13 points of the quarter.
Jaylen Brown was aggressive early on driving to the paint, he made a transition bucket with an and-1. There was no Al Horford for this game, so replacing Luke Kornet as the first big man off the bench today was Neemias Queta. Jayson Tatum’s jump shot looked really good as he hit 2 threes and 2 mid range fadeaway jumpers as a part of a 14-4 Celtics run.
Nikola Jokic wasn’t going to be denied on offense either, scoring 9 straight points for Denver getting to the paint and hitting a three.
At the end of 1, the Celtics lead the Nuggets 34-29. For the second game in a row, all of the starters minus Kornet played the entire quarter. Tatum finished as the Celtics leading scorer with 10 points but it was a pretty even scoring output for everyone as Brown (9 points), White (8 points), and Holiday (7 points) were able to find their groove. The Celtics finished the quarter shooting 13-28 from the field and 4-13 from three.
2nd Quarter
The bench squad checked in to begin the quarter with Pritchard, Hauser, Springer, Walsh and Tillman. Sam Hauser scored 8 straight for the Celtics, hitting a fadeaway jumper and two threes. Boston started to build up their lead a little more as Jaden Springer hit a three, growing their lead to 9 points (46-37) with 8:26 left in the half. Denver is losing the math game from three, shooting only 2-14 to start.
The starters for both teams checked back in around the 8 minute mark but Sam Hauser stayed out there and hit his 3rd straight three at the 6:48 mark.
Jaylen Brown continued to show off his strength, hitting a layup and giving Jamal Murray a “too little,” threw a no look pass to Kornet for a score, and threw down a thunderous dunk on the fast break.
At the half, the Celtics continued to hold on to their lead, winning 67-60. Jaylen Brown was the Celtics leading scorer with 16 points shooting 6-13 from the field. Tatum finished with 14 points and Sam Hauser was perfect, dropping 11 points shooting 4-4 from the field and 3-3 from three. Nikola Jokic was the Nuggets leading scorer with 20 points and 7 assists but Denver continued to struggle from three, finishing the half 3-18. The Celtics stayed hot, finishing the half shooting 25-51 from the field and 9-24 from three.
3rd Quarter
An interesting lineup for the Celtics to start the 3rd quarter as Tatum, Brown, and White start the 2nd half with Pritchard and Queta. Brown continued his hot shooting, hitting a three and driving for a tough layup, flexing on Dario Saric for even thinking of challenging him at the rim. After Jaylen Brown received a technical foul for seemingly nothing, Derrick White hit a three that forced Denver to call a timeout as the Celtics lead Denver 78-64 with 9:37 to go in the quarter.
Tatum hit another three out of the timeout and with about 9 minutes to go, the Celtics took the starters out of the game to give Springer, Walsh and Hauser minutes. Hauser continued to cook hitting a mid range jumper off the dribble and Pritchard hit a deep three to give the Celtics a 23 point lead.
Sam Hauser made another mid range jumper and he hasn’t even touched the rim on any of his shots, it’s so fun to watch Hauser when he’s on like this. Payton Pritchard hit his 2nd 28-foot three of the quarter and got an and-1 on the shot pushing the Celtics lead to 33.
At the end of the 3rd quarter the rout is on as Boston is looking in regular season form already, crushing the Nuggets 109-76. The Celtics are shooting 38-72 from the field and 15-35 from three vs the Nuggets 24-62 from the field and 5-27 from three. The Celtics have a huge advantage in the turnover battle, winning in points off turnovers 25-4.
4th Quarter
JD Davison, Drew Peterson and Baylor Scheierman get their first minutes of the game alongside Tillman and Queta. Even with Scheierman’s shooting not being there to start preseason, he had a really nice two man game with Queta that set up Tillman for an easy layup on the cut. Lonnie Walker and Anton Watson checked into the game with about 6 minutes to go in the game.
Drew Peterson has looked pretty good so far in his limited minutes, hitting a fadeaway jumper to start the quarter and drilling a three at the 3:59 mark. Baylor Scheierman finally hit his first three as a member of the Celtics at the 2:14 mark and the bench loved it. Walker had a rough showing, going 0-4 in his minutes.
The Celtics will fly back home to Boston for their next preseason game on Saturday October 12th at 8pm et.
