Having lost twice in the 2023-24 regular season to the Nuggets, the Celtics have a 2-0 record heading into this matchup against the Nuggets in Abu Dhabi. This Sunday the NBA champions decided there was no room for suspension with a 26-point victory (130-104). On the heels of Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum, the Celtics entered halftime with a seven-point lead (67-60). Sam Hauser at the top of the chain and Jaylen Brown at his best are paramount, while Nikola Jokic limits the damage on Denver’s side.
In the second half, Joe Mazzulla put Payton Pritchard and Neemias Queta behind Tatum, Brown and Derrick White, and the formula was a winner. Brown continued his festival, and when he was penalized with a serious technical foul, Derrick White took it back with a 3-point shot that gave him a 14-point lead. We only had two minutes to play in the third quarter and Mike Malone took a timeout. On the way back, Tatum hit another 3-point shot and Mazzulla decided to eliminate his strong men. Hauser then replaced the elements from behind the bench and the gap exceeded 20 points.
The Nuggets were overwhelmed by the shots of Hauser and Pritchard, and found themselves relegated to -33: 109 – 76! Looking at the statistics says a lot about the dominance of the Celtics: 53% from the field, of which 43% from 3-point range. On the other hand, Denver is on the road, as its 25 points are condemned by turnovers and it is 19% from the 3-point range. The fourth quarter only allowed them to discover the players invited to the training camp, and Boston finally won 130-104.