The Celtics started hot and stayed hot in their second game of Las Vegas NBA Summer League on Tuesday evening . It was rising NBA sophomore Aaron Nesmith who stole the show offensively as the Celtics guards proved to be too much for Denver rookie Nah’Shon “Bones” Hyland and the Nuggets in a 107-82 blowout win.
Behind scorching shooting in the first quarter, the Celtics built an 8-point lead that they would never give up. Boston went 7-8 from three throughout the first 10 minutes of action, with Nesmith and Payton Pritchard combining to connect on all five of their attempts.
The second quarter saw the Nuggets still struggling to get stops with Nesmith, Pritchard, and Romeo Langford handling the scoring load. Langford had the dunk of the day in Las Vegas when he exploded over Davon Reed for a right-handed punch:
WHAT A DUNK BY ROMEO LANGFORD
(via @NBATV)pic.twitter.com/GlYDGNoVpm
— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) August 11, 2021
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The second half was largely cruise control for a Celtics squad that built a 20-point halftime lead. After promising debuts, Yam Madar and Juhann Begarin were quiet in limited reps. Tuesday night proved to be a chance for the experienced Celtics to take over.
Nesmith finished with a game-high 33 points while shooting 7-9 from distance. The Vanderbilt product showed flashes of the shooter he could become, and is growing in confidence. Following up his 5-14 shooting performance in game one with one of his better shooting games ever is proof of that growth.
“In the gym yesterday, I made sure I went through the same routine, changed nothing, kept the same confidence in my shot, and then came out today and just shot it the way that I know I can every day,” Nesmith said in the postgame press conference.
The Celtics now sit at a perfect 2-0 heading into what should be a terrific game on Thursday night against Jalen Suggs and the Orlando Magic.
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