Pritchard turns heads as the Celtics end their pre-season with a win over the Nuggets in Abu Dhabi

BOSTON – The defending champion Boston Celtics picked up where they left off, capping their preseason with a 107-103 victory over the Denver Nuggets on Friday in Abu Dhabi. 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 and six assists. Tatum scored a dozen points while Brown scored eight as both Boston stars played 19 minutes.

Nikola Jokic played as usual for the Nuggets and finished the game with 14 points and eight rebounds.

Neither team's starting players played after halftime, but Boston's substitutes erased a double-digit deficit in the second half and were only defeated by a header in the final frame.

It was the members of the Maine Celtics who led Boston to victory in a back-and-forth fourth quarter. Drew Peterson hit back-to-back three-pointers to give the Celtics a 101-94 lead with 2:12 to play. JD Davidson had a chance to block a shot in defense and hit Dmytro Skapintsev with a nice lob at the other end. He made four free throws in the final 7.2 seconds to secure the Boston victory.

The two teams will face each other again at the Etihad Arena on Sunday, but it is unclear whether any starters will feature in that game. Here are a few takeaways from Boston's exhibition opening on Friday.

Jayson Tatum's shot looked better

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

Although Tatum seemed more interested in setting up his teammates than making his own shots, recording five assists during his time on the court, he ended up hitting three of his seven attempts from downtown. The shot looked pretty smooth and a bit quicker than Tatum's last summer.

Jaylen Brown made a poster in Abu Dhabi

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

Payton Pritchard was a walking bucket

Pritchard was 6 of 12 from downtown and attempted just one shot from inside. Although he didn't hit a particularly deep three-pointer, he did add one pretty deep. (Although it was fairly pedestrian-friendly by Pritchard's standards.)

Pritchard also picked up the pace for Boston in the second half, playing a team-high 24 minutes. The fifth-year guard is primed for a big season off Boston's bench.

The Celtics made a lot of threes

In the franchise's long history, 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 on a whole new level in Abu Dhabi.

Last season, the Celtics made an NBA-high 42.5 three-pointers per game. We saw this number increase during the 2024-25 season.

Luke Kornet started for Al Horford

Al Horford had the day off, and Luke Kornet took his place in the starting lineup alongside Tatum, Brown, Derrick White and Jrue Holiday. He put in a solid 21 minutes of work and grabbed a team-best 11 rebounds for a total of six points. Kornet is expected to be in the starting lineup as Kristaps Porzingis continues his recovery from offseason surgery.

Xavier Tillman also played his role off the bench quite well. He shot a pair of three-pointers while grabbing two rebounds, blocking a shot and getting two steals.

Jordan Walsh is a ball of energy

Walsh was all over the place in his 25 minutes on the floor and had a loud putback jam in the second half. He finished the game with a nine-point lead on 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.