The Boston Celtics also won their second game in Abu Dhabi against the Denver Nuggets. After the close game the day before, the champions won clearly this time by 130:104.
Compared to the game two days ago, the Nuggets did without Michael Porter Jr., Aaron Gordon and Russell Westbrook, yet Denver held its own well with the champion in the first half (60:67). Nikola Jokic was again the outstanding man with 20 points, seven rebounds and three assists, while Jamal Murray contributed 11 points in the first half.
After that, coach Michael Malone unleashed the youngsters and that didn’t go as well as hoped. Boston still had the starters on the court for three minutes, during which time the Celtics scored 14 points. After that, Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown and Derrick White were done for the period, but even without the star trio, the Celtics won the quarter 42-16.
Payton Pritchard scored all of his 14 points here, Sam Hauser (15) made three threes. After 60 attempted threes in the first game, Boston made “only” 47 this time, with 18 of them going through the hoop. The Celtics’ top scorer was Brown with 21 points, while Tatum notched 17 points (6/14 FG).
For the Nuggets, youngster Julian Strawther scored 17 points (6/12), while Hunter Tyson (8, 10 rebounds) came close to a double-double.
