The Celtics topped the Nuggets 107-103 Friday in the preseason opener for both teams.
Wins and losses don’t necessarily matter during the preseason, but the details do. Here’s a preseason stock report.
Stock up
Preseason P
Payton Pritchard missed a chance at the halftime buzzer to add to his growing collection of heaves, but could not draw iron on a difficult attempt. Nonetheless, he continued to stamp himself as a preseason king.
After averaging 15.6 points during 23.6 minutes per game last preseason, Pritchard surpassed those marks Friday while scoring 21 points in 24 minutes. He didn’t ease into anything, looking for his shot from the moment he subbed into the game. He canned 6-of-12 3-point attempts while scoring 14 first-half points and another seven in the third quarter. The guard sat out the fourth like the other regulars, but not before dishing six assists. The Celtics offense often looked best with him on the court.
Pritchard’s 2023 preseason run foreshadowed the best season of his career. Maybe another strong preseason will suggest he’s ready to take another step forward.
White’s approach
The two teams started practicing last week and were still surely feeling the impact of the 12-hour flight to Abu Dhabi. They had every reason to play some sloppy basketball, and sure did play some early. Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown took turns committing ugly turnovers. Luke Kornet badly missed an ambitious tip-in attempt from about 10 feet away. The Celtics defense had some highlights, including when Brown mashed a Vlatko Čančar offering off the glass, but didn’t always appear connected.
Derrick White worked with fervor, though. He stripped Aaron Gordon in the post early in the first quarter, then racked up several admirable defensive rotations. Midway through the first quarter, White scrambled back and forth across the court to salvage a possession when the Nuggets had numbers. Later, his doggedness forced Michael Porter Jr. into a travel and created a steal from behind in transition.
It was just preseason. The Celtics are the defending champions. And White, one of their best players, competed like he was chasing a roster spot. He set the type of tone Joe Mazzulla wants. Boston didn’t always play well, but typically played hard.
Tillman’s jumper
Xavier Tillman appeared in 20 regular-season games and eight playoff games for the Celtics last season without ever hitting multiple 3-pointers in a contest. He did so Friday while going 2 for 3 from deep in the preseason opener.
It would be a significant development for Tillman to become a passable outside shooter. Though his defense is typically stellar, he did not find many ways to help the Boston offense last season (with one notable exception when he drilled a key 3-pointer in the Finals). He will never be much of an above-the-rim finisher but the Celtics hope he can begin to hurt defenses designed to leave him open behind the arc.
As a 26.7-percent career 3-point shooter, Tillman hasn’t offered much evidence to believe he will ever develop a solid outside stroke. Including the postseason, he shot 9 for 29 on 3-point attempts (31 percent) after joining the Celtics at the trade deadline. But he boldly stepped into an above-the-break 3-point attempt during his first minute on the court Friday and later drilled a pair of corner attempts. He will need to do a lot more to prove he can knock down shots consistently, but every made 3-pointer from him will be helpful, especially while Kristaps Porziņģis is out.
The Celtics played most of their usual starters during the first half Friday, but were without their top two big men in Porzingis (foot) and Al Horford (rest). In their absence, Kornet drew the start. He scored six points, grabbed 11 rebounds and handed out three assists.
Derrick White was already in fine form during the Celtics first preseason game. (Francois Nel/Getty Images)
Stock down
End-of-rotation shooting
After using their four usual perimeter starters with Kornet and Xavier Tillman for the entire first quarter, the Celtics began the second quarter with a bench unit. Jaden Springer and Jordan Walsh were both in the lineup, suggesting they could have an early leg up on earning whatever opportunities exist behind Pritchard and Sam Hauser.
Springer and Walsh each delivered impressive passes and initiated the offense on occasion. They combined for five offensive rebounds with some hard crashes from the corner. They showed off their promising defensive tools. They also combined to shoot 2 for 7 from behind the arc, revealing a potential weakness of the Celtics’ end-of-rotation pieces. Walsh produced both of those makes, but also hesitated from the perimeter at times. His track record dating back to his college days suggests his outside stroke is questionable at best. The same goes for Springer.
Preseason rotations don’t always mean much (remember when Juancho Hernangomez started over Horford during the first preseason game under Ime Udoka?), but the Celtics didn’t prioritize shooting with their ninth and 10th spots in the opener. Walsh and Springer had their moments, though, and are intriguing young players in their own ways. Among other possible perimeter options, Baylor Scheierman didn’t play until the fourth quarter and Lonnie Walker only appeared with the deep-bench players over the final four minutes.
Rookie Scheierman
It’s never wise to overreact to a rookie’s preseason debut. Baylor Scheierman’s career certainly won’t be defined by how well he handled eight minutes, all in the fourth quarter, against the Nuggets reserves.
That said, Scheierman had an inauspicious start. His first 3-point attempt struck the side of the backboard. His second produced an airball. He threw an ill-advised pass out of bounds and failed to convert a contested layup on the break. Scheierman intercepted a pass and almost drew a charge, but will be hoping for a more impactful offensive performance during his second time out. He didn’t play any minutes with the rotation regulars, perhaps a sign he’s likely to start the regular season without a role.
Anyone hoping to see the Celtics take fewer 3s
Do critics of Mazzulla’s 3-point-happy strategy still exist? If they do, they must have hated the Celtics’ offensive approach in Abu Dhabi. They launched 35 3-point attempts in the first half and finished with 61 for the game. The latter number would have set a franchise record if it came in a regular season game. And the Celtics did that without their two stretch big men, Porziņģis and Horford.
Tatum, whose playoff woes from downtown became a storyline, started the preseason by draining 3 of 7 3-point attempts in 19 minutes. He was one of six Celtics players to make multiple 3-pointers. That list included two-way contract player Drew Peterson, who scored 10 points during an impressive fourth quarter against the end of the Nuggets bench. He went 2 for 5 on 3-point attempts.
Some things have changed for the Celtics. A lot has stayed the same. They still want to shoot, and shoot, and shoot some more.
(Photo: Fadel Senna / AFP via Getty Images)
