It had to end sometime, and boy did it ever on Tuesday night for the summer Boston Celtics. The previously undefeated Celtics dropped the Las Vegas Summer League title game to the Sacramento Kings 100 – 67 as Davion Mitchell and his teammates brought out the clamps, with whatever magic Payton Pritchard had evidently left behind in Portland by mistake.
Boston had been averaging over 100 points per game in summer league play but shot just 20% from beyond the arc as the Kings locked the Celtics up on the perimeter. Sacramento also won the turnover battle handily as a result, ending with just 7 to Boston’s 28 to help secure their second summer league title since 2014.
The Celtics were led by 15 points and 5 rebounds from guard Carsen Edwards and 12 points and 6 boards from forward Aaron Nesmith while Pritchard finished with just 6 points while going 0-for-6 from deep.
Aaron Nesmith says of losing in the Summer League title game, "It's just motivation to get back to the drawing board tomorrow morning and get right back to work."
— Boston Celtics (@celtics) August 18, 2021
The loss stung for the Celtics after such a strong showing in the lead-up to the title game, but there were plenty of valuable lessons to take away from the experience as the team heads into the deep of the 2021 NBA offseason.
This post originally appeared on Celtics Wire. Follow us on Facebook!
