There was no sophomore slump evident with Payton Pritchard and Aaron Nesmith last night.. Boston took the game from the Nuggets with a final score of 107-82.
Aaron "ThreeSmith" lived up to his nickname by hitting 78% (7-of-9) on 3-pointers and 72% overall from the field. He had a game-high 33 points and collected seven boards. The 14th pick in the 2020 NBA draft was absolutely on fire.
Aaron "ThreeSmith" lived up to his nickname with 33 points and 7-of-9 on 3-pointers. He was on fire.
— Tom Lane (@CelticsSentinel) August 11, 2021
Aaron Nesmith IGNITES For 33 PTS! 🔥 https://t.co/MduCIWMFNg via @YouTube
Fellow second-year man, Pritchard, taken with the 26th pick in the same draft, scored 21 points on 60% shooting from the field and 80% from beyond the arc. And his eight rebounds and 12 assists are an indicator that we may be looking at a solid second-unit point guard that does more than score the ball.
Pritchard's ability to quickly push the ball upcourt and get the ball to Aaron simply opened up all kinds of opportunities. And ThreeSmith scored on a variety of drives, stop-and-pops and catch-and-shoots. At least for this game, there seemed to be a terrific synergy between the two second-year men.
I know what you're thinking. It's only one Summer League game. Yes, I know, but these two were so damn dominant. If they can come close to replicating this kind of play and synergy in the regular season, Brad Stevens' "bridge season" may be stronger than anticipated.
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