We finally got to see the NBA champs back in action this weekend as they kicked of their preseason with a tour of Abu Dhabi, playing the Denver Nuggets on two occasions. It was a successful trip for the Celtics as they claimed both games and everyone – aside from Kristaps Porzingis and Al Horford – saw minutes. Joe Mazzulla’s team looks sharp and ready to go as we rapidly approach the beginning of the new NBA season.
04/10/2024 107-103
The first game was a closely fought contest as the majority of both teams starting line-ups featured, at least in the first half. The main thing most Celtics fans will have acknowledged was the change in Jayson Tatum’s shooting form, it looks a lot sharper and snappier and the work he and his trainer – Drew Hanlen – have put in can hopefully see Tatum return to the elite three-point shooting levels we saw from him earlier in his career. Tatum played well in this one scoring 12 points (including 3 three-pointers) and also managed six rebounds and five assists. The major thing these preseason games tend to provide is a look at some of the bench players and we saw Payton Pritchard do what he does best once again, with 21 points and six assists in an excellent outing. Jordan Walsh also saw extended run with a game high 25 minutes, and it looked promising as he connected on two of his three-point attempts and managed four rebounds and assists. Boston claimed the win in the final exchanges as Drew Petersen hit a couple of important shots in the last couple of minutes to close out the game.
06/10/2024 130-104
Jaylen Brown has clearly been in the gym this offseason and looks in the shape of his life heading into the new season. He completely dominated this game through the first three quarters and showed off the muscle he has added this summer, the best play of the night was undoubtedly Brown’s finish over Jamal Murray as he overpowered him to get to the basket. With Kristaps Porzingis out till potentially December it was important to see some encouraging signs from Xavier Tillman and Luke Kornet. Both played well over the course of the weekend but personally I was most pleased with the development of Tillman’s three-point shot as he looked a lot more confident shooting the ball (he went 5/8 over the two games). Boston really ran away with this one in the second half and left Abu Dhabi with a perfect 2-0 record to begin their preseason.
Boston will now return back to the TD Garden to face both the Philadelphia 76ers and the Toronto Raptors before ending their preseason in Toronto on Wednesday 16th.
Add comment
Comments