Pritchard lights it up as Celtics tip off preseason with win over Nuggets in Abu Dhabi

BOSTON — The defending champion Boston Celtics picked up where they left off, tipping off their preseason with a 107-103 win over the Denver Nuggets in Abu Dhabi on Friday. Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown both played extended minutes in the first half, while Payton Prichard put on a show from deep in the second half.

Pritchard led all Celtics scorers with 21 points to go with six assists. Tatum scored a dozen points while Brown put in eight, as both Boston stars saw 19 minutes of action.

Nikola Jokic was his usual self for the Nuggets and finished with 14 points and eight rebounds. 

Neither team’s starters played after halftime, but Boston’s reserves were able to erase a double-digit deficit in the second half and trialed by just one heading into the final frame. 

It was members of the Maine Celtics that led Boston to a victory in a back-and-forth fourth quarter. Drew Peterson hit back-to-back threes to put the Celtics on top 101-94 with 2:12 to play. JD Davidson had a stretch where he blocked a shot on defense and found Dmytro Skapintsev with a nice lob on the other end. He made four free throws over the final 7.2 seconds to ice the Boston victory.

The two teams will play again at Etihad Arena on Sunday, though it’s unclear if any starters will play in that game. Here are a few takeaways from Boston’s exhibition opener on Friday.

Jayson Tatum’s shot looked better

Tatum’s slump from the perimeter during the playoffs and the Olympics was a hot topic over the summer. His deep shot looked much better on Friday.

While Tatum seemed more interested in setting up his teammates than taking his own shots, logging five assists during his time on the floor, he ended up hitting three of his seven attempts from downtown. The shot looked pretty smooth and a bit quicker than what saw from Tatum last summer.

Jaylen Brown made a poster in Abu Dhabi

Brown was 3-for-9 from the floor and just 1-for-5 from deep. But he had the loudest bucket of the game, adding poster from Abu Dhabi to his ever-growing collection.

Payton Pritchard was a walking bucket

Pritchard was 6-for-12 from downtown, attempting just one shot from inside the arc. While he didn’t hit any ridiculously deep threes, he did add one from pretty deep. (Though it was fairly pedestrian for Pritchard’s standards.)

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Pritchard also pushed the pace for Boston in the second half and played a team-high 24 minutes. The fifth-year guard is primed for a huge season off the Boston bench. 

The Celtics took a lot of threes

In the long history of the franchise, the Celtics have never attempted 60 three-pointers in a regular season or playoff game. They took 61 shots from downtown on Friday. Mazzullaball was at a whole new level in Abu Dhabi. 

Last season, the Celtics averaged an NBA-high 42.5 threes per game. We could see that number climb during the 2024-25 season.

Luke Kornet started for Al Horford

Al Horford got the day off, with Luke Kornet taking his spot in the starting lineup alongside Tatum, Brown, Derrick White, and Jrue Holiday. He put in a solid 21 minutes of work, grabbing a team-high 11 rebounds to go with six points. Kornet is expected to start while Kristaps Porzingis continues his recovery from offseason surgery.

Xavier Tillman was also pretty good in his role off the bench, canning a couple of threes while pulling down two rebounds, blocking a shot, and coming up with a pair of steals. 

Jordan Walsh is a ball of energy

Walsh was everywhere in his 25 minutes on the floor, and had a loud putback jam in the second half. He finished with nine points off 3-for-7 shooting, with six of those shots coming from downtown. (He hit two from deep.) Walsh also had four rebounds and four assists.