Celtics ‘Checked Every Box’ In Preseason Trip To Abu Dhabi

The Boston Celtics had every excuse to turn their visit to Abu Dhabi last week for two preseason games against the Denver Nuggets into a vacation.

The trip offered a chance for the Celtics to explore halfway across the globe and Boston could have coasted into the exhibition contests with it coming off a shortened offseason due to a title run.

But instead, the Celtics set the tone for the season by beating the Nuggets, an NBA title contender, twice.

It was exactly what NESN’s Travis Thomas wanted to see as he discussed the Celtics taking care of business on the “Hold My Banner” podcast.

“We knew they would take this serious. They did. They came out, they checked literally every box that we talked about on the show that we wanted to see,” Thomas said. “We wanted to see some urgency. I get it, it’s preseason. But still, you’re the champs. The target is on your back. The Nuggets are a team of the upper-echelon. This isn’t some scrub team. I mean you could see this team, as I said, possibly an NBA Finals preview. I believe it was.

“And what did we see? Celtics, too deep. Payton Pritchard balled out. Sam Hauser balled out. And look, with the limited minutes that the stars got, they showed up, too. (Jayson) Tatum looked good. (Jaylen) Brown looked good. All this stuff plays into all of us feeling comfortable that we should be witnessing a repeat bid here from the Celtics.”

The Celtics eked out a come-from-behind, four-point win in the first preseason game before flexing their muscles by toppling the Nuggets, 130-104, in the second contest.

Pritchard, who averaged 17.5 points in the two games, was a catalyst as the play of Boston’s bench as a whole reinforced how deep they are. And that’s a scary thought for opponents, especially when they first have to deal with arguably the most talented starting five in the league.

You can check out all episodes of the “Hold My Banner” podcast on YouTube and Spotify.