Entering Sunday’s game, the Boston Celtics and the Washington Wizards both had nothing to play for. The Celtics clinched the number one seed with 11 games left in the season while the Wizards sat second to last in the Eastern Conference with 15 wins. With each team’s star players sitting, it was time for role players and end-of-the-bench players to step up.
Payton Pritchard is no end-of-the-bench player; he’s a role player on a very talented Celtics team and because of that, he’s been forced to be a role player. Last year, Pritchard featured in 48 games. Despite his desire to be on the court, he couldn’t get the minutes he wanted behind teammates Marcus Smart, Derrick White, and Malcolm Brogdon.
Fast forward to Sunday and Pritchard featured in game 82 (one of just 17 players this season to accomplish this feat). When he’s got his chances this year he’s taken it, whether it was being one of the first guys off the bench or in spot starts.
After starting on Friday and dropping a then career-high 31 points against the Hornets, Pritchard got the starting nod again to conclude the regular season and he impressed again scoring a new career-high 38 points on 15-21 shooting. Getting more minutes over the last few games, he was asked postgame if these games gave him momentum.
“Nah, I already knew I could do this on a nightly basis, but when you have a team with as much talent as we have, you have to do other things to help winning,” Pritchard said. “This doesn’t do anything for me, it’s a great performance, but ultimately I’m here to win a championship. Whatever is asked of me, I’ll do that.”
After signing his four-year, $30 million extension (Thanks, Brad), Pritchard is showing he’s more than just a role player on a talented team. There will be nights when he’s asked to be more of a facilitator but his ability to create shots and shoot (38.5% from three this season) should bode well for him in the playoffs. One question mark he had coming into the season was how would his defense hold up against these other guards, but it doesn’t seem to be an issue.
On Sunday, Pritchard showed why he belongs in the league scoring 14 consecutive points for the Celtics to close the second quarter which included four three-pointers. But it wasn’t just the scoring from Pritchard that made this such a great performance by him. Pritchard understands the game and where the…
Click Here to Read the Full Original Article at CelticsBlog – All Posts…