Celtics start title defense with 107-103 win over Nuggets in Abu Dhabi

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,…