Payton Pritchard gets hot, Celtics regulars get limited time, in preseason opening win over Denver

The Celtics and Nuggets played their first of two preseason games in Abu Dhabi that saw Boston’s star players get no more than 19 minutes (and zero for Al Horford, who didn’t play). The Celtics ended up winning the game 107-103, led by 21 points from Payton Pritchard. Here are a few thoughts about how the game went. 

- In general, these looked like the same ol’ Celtics. I didn’t really see anything in terms of new wrinkles, which might jive with Joe Mazzulla’s mandate that the team start from scratch and re-learn the fundamentals. They had some stretches of really good ball movement and generating good shot attempts. They missed a bunch of shots early on, but other than that, the first half could have been a November regular season game. 

- The Celtics took 61 3-pointers, which will be a number people latch onto because it’s ridiculous. The Celtics have never taken 60 or more in a game that counted, but the distribution was pretty normal. Pritchard took 12 but he made half of them. Tatum took seven in 19 minutes, but we wanted to see him dial in his shot. Sam Hauser took eight because that's what Hauser does. 

If this was a normal game, they would have played it a little differently and there wouldn’t have been quite so many. That said, would anyone be shocked if they did get to 60 in the regular season? 

- Jayson Tatum’s jumper looks okay. He showed the same, more fluid shot that we’ve seen in practices and he went 3-7 from deep. So the early returns are good. 

He also finished with 12 points, five assists, and six rebounds in 19 minutes, so we could say he had a projected triple-double in the game. Why not? We make the rules, right?

- Pritchard, by the way, is such a gamer. He doesn’t care what the situation is, if he’s on the floor, he’s playing his butt off. And if he hits a couple early, then a hot, 6-12 night from deep is always in the cards.

- Horford sat this game out because the Celtics didn't feel the need to play him right away. This is part of a management plan to make sure he stays healthy throughout the season. 

That gave Luke Kornet and Xavier Tillman a little extra playing time with the first unit and I think both delivered well. Kornet looked like his normal self, so no notes for him as he finished with 11 rebounds and three assists. 

Tillman hit two corner 3-pointers, which is very nice to see. It’s just one data point so I’m not going to do backflips over one 2-3 night from 3, but it’s nice to see someone start that clean out of the blocks. There's a whole race to go, but it’s the start we were looking for. 

- The Celtics defense looked pretty good through large stretches of the first half. Derrick White was doing DWhite things with two steals, a block, and a few deflections. He was active and mostly accurate defensively. 

It was great to see them disrupt so many of Nikola Jokic’s passes, especially the touchdown attempts that are always backbreakers. 

- White did have one embarrassing moment, getting Marcus Smart’ed when Jamal Murray dove to steal the ball as White was letting it roll up the floor. Rare lapse from White on that play.

- Jaylen Brown had a couple of spectacular plays, one on the defensive end with a huge blocked shot and another on the other end as he cut down the middle for a big dunk. 

He also addressed the crowd before the game and dropped some Arabic, which is impressive. 

- The bench came in and finished the game off after halftime. 

Jordan Walsh looked better than he did in summer league. He was a little more under control and he defended well, blocking three shots. He also dished four assists and grabbed four boards, so it was an encouraging sign that he is capable of more. I don’t know if that translates to the regular season because he did it against the Denver bench, but production in this situation is better than no production. He also hit a couple of 3-pointers, which, considering his cold summer league, is also nice to see. 

Drew Peterson got hot too. His 10 points helped Boston pull the game out. 

JD Davison was a positive in 12 minutes. He looked to be in control of the offense for a lot of his time on the floor. I don’t know if that gets him time during the regular season, but the more he does, the more comfortable coaches will be turning to him if someone goes down with an injury.

Baylor Scheierman was probably a bit too amped up for this one. One of his shots hit the top of the backboard and another was well short of the rim. I’m willing to throw this game out and see what happens on Sunday. 

Jaden Springer didn’t look good offensively. He was 0-3 and he looked a little lost. Not what I was looking for. I would like to see more from him on Sunday. 

Lonnie Walker only played four minutes. If the same happens on Sunday then I think I have to give up this thought that he could make the team. 

Neemias Queta was okay. He hit all three shots he took, he had a block, and three rebounds. He also had a funny moment letting out a screech that resonated throughout the arena when his teammates missed him wide open under the net. 

So to sum up, nothing revelatory in this one. No one stood out as extraordinary, no one in the rotation was bad. Some young guys and fringe rotation guys were up and down, but that's to be expected. I expect Horford to play on Sunday so we might see some different things then.