Payton Pritchard had a really strong rookie year and then spent the next two seasons in and out of the rotation for the Celtics. In fact, at one point, he requested a trade. Brad Stevens did not deal him, instead extending him in October of 2023 to a 4-year contract.
Pritchard has made that decision pay off as he has become a key part of last year’s championship and has had a Sixth Man of the Year caliber campaign this year. Thursday night during the Celtics 124-104 blowout win over the 76ers, was just another monster line in his growing resume.
Pritchard had a huge game, scoring 28 points, dishing out 4 assists and draining 8 threes from beyond the arc. He was lights out all night long.
Three guys collapse on Kristaps Porzingis in the post and Tyrese Maxey is left to guard two guys. Guarding two guys when they are standing still is something that happens a lot in the NBA, but Maxey gets caught cheating off down to Al Horford in the corner. KP sees this and makes a good pass to Pritchard who nails the three.
Paul George takes a slight hesitation on his closeout on this one and I am not really sure why. Sure, you don’t want to be reckless and foul him or he pump fakes and you go jumping by, but Pritchard is going to make that shot a lot times when he is that open.
Just a miscommunication between Andre Drummond and Kelly Oubre here. Oubre switched and Drummond only hedged at Pritchard instead of switching, leading to the wide-open shot.
A great screen by Luke Kornet to free Payton for the wide-open shot.
When you’re hot, you are hot and while this isn’t a bad contest by Oubre, he gives Pritchard enough space to get the shot up and drain it.
Those five shots were all in a row, after the fourth one you would think that someone would guard Payton, but Philly continued to cheat off of him and he made them pay on all 5 of those shots.
As Pritchard has told us before, that’s what he does.
He has been doing this all season. Pritchard has hit a career high 170 threes this season, up from a career-high he set last season at 147. He has blown all of his previous marks out of the water and we still have 26 games to go.
As Jayson Tatum told TNT’s Allie LaForce postgame, “he’s unbelievable, what he brings to this team on a given night, especially off the bench. You know, we got a few weeks left but he’s got to be Sixth Man of the Year.”
We have seen Payton develop a lot over the past season and half. It is not just the three pointers that Pritchard has developed either, his passing and shot-making around the rim have improved a lot as well this season.
“I like to think just make the right reads,” Pritchard said in his postgame press conference Thursday. “If the pass isn’t there, don’t try to throw a pass, attack. If a guy is helping and a guy is open, just make the read and make that pass. So, I feel like that is how we try and play the game, and everybody when they watch our film it’s all about right reads not right passes because if the read is pass, take it. If the read is shot, you gotta shot it. So, if we are making the right reads then we’ll be alright.”
Asked Payton Pritchard about whether the Celtics’ ball movement tonight was contagious, and he made an important distinction re: my phrasing of “throwing the extra pass”:
“When we watch film, its all about the right reads… if the read is pass, pass it. If the read is shot, you… pic.twitter.com/wLSWS5Bam3
— Noa Dalzell (@NoaDalzell) February 21, 2025
As Hardwood Houdini’s Jack Simone points out, Pritchard’s pick-and-rolls have been off of the charts this season, he is the most efficient ball hander in the NBA this season, minimum one possession per game, at 1.25 points per possessions. Although, with the amount of times he has run it, just 1.9 possessions per game compared to Shai Gilgeous-Alexander in the number 2 slot, who runs 9.6 pick and rolls per game, that stat isn’t the most reliable.
However, the leap is evident. In the same amount of possessions as the pick-and-roll ball handler last season, Pritchard generated 0.97 points per possession. His effective field goal percentage was 52%; this season it is at 69%. It is another way for us to see how much Pritchard has evolved as a player this season.
Payton Pritchard has been a joy to watch this season and the evolution of his game is why. He always competes at a really high level every night and his love for the game is evident every single time he plays.
