Payton Pritchard provided a huge lift off the bench Friday night as the Celtics broke open a close game in Chicago and kept their hopes alive for a spot in the NBA Cup’s knockout round, writes Brian Robb of MassLive. Forced into extra duty after Derrick White left the game with a sprained right foot in the third quarter, Pritchard played 28 minutes, including the final 19, while scoring 29 points. He hit seven three-pointers and scored all the points in a late 11-4 run that put the game away.
“It’s obviously a great feeling but I feel like the best feeling is winning on the road and being able to help my team get over the hump tonight,” Pritchard said. “Obviously I feel it. I can hear the crowd, the gravity it pulls. It definitely was a fun night.”
Pritchard is in his fifth season with Boston, and it seems like a long time ago that he was asking to be traded due to a lack of playing time. He has become one of the most dangerous bench weapons in the league — averaging a career-high 15.6 PPG while shooting 48.5% from the field and 44% from three-point range — and Jayson Tatum is pushing for him to get some individual recognition.
“It’s been pretty cool to see him grow into the player that he is, being effective on a championship team,” Tatum said, “and the things that he’s doing is Sixth Man of the Year worthy for me.”
There’s more on the Celtics:
- White’s injury doesn’t appear to be serious, as he’s being listed as questionable for Sunday’s showdown with Cleveland for first place in the East, per Souichi Terada of MassLive. Kristaps Porzingis, Al Horford and Jrue Holiday are also questionable, and Terada suggests they may be staggered as Boston prepares for a stretch of five games in seven days.
- Other coaches have expressed reservations about running up the score in NBA Cup games to gain a points differential advantage, but Joe Mazzulla enjoys that aspect of the tournament, Terada adds in a separate story. Mazzulla called time out Friday with 1.4 seconds left to set up a Sam Hauser three-pointer that increased the Celtics’ final margin of victory to nine points. “I like it because this tournament and the point differential kind of eliminates the unwritten rules that you’re supposed to follow or not follow,” Mazzulla said. “Where in a normal situation, you wouldn’t do that. But in this one, you get to draw up a play and try to get better in that situation. So guys did a good job executing and we tried to extend the point differential as much as we could.”
- Three-point defense was a concern in Friday’s game as Chicago stayed close by sinking 20 shots from beyond the arc, notes Gary Washburn of The Boston Globe. It was the most all season against the Celtics, who rank fourth in the league in limiting three-pointers. “We had to turn up the pressure a little bit more. We were scoring and maybe we weren’t as physical with them so they felt good about themselves,” Porzingis said. “The second half that was an emphasis for us, being more physical with them, make them work a little bit more for everything.”
Nice cruisy part of the schedule lol. Pritchard most improved maybe if he keeps this up?
Celtics full squad is team to beat.
Knicks still searching for chemistry and D. Hanging in there though.
Bucks (10-9) and in sixth seed. WaaaaaaAAT !!!!
Guess we can cancel suicide watch.
OOOooohhhh and all the Doc haters. Please stand up
The biggest change Rivers made was Connaughton less and AJ more. That and better defense with Jackson.
Remind me again what the Bucks record was last year before Doc took over? Now please tell me what Doc’s record is as Bucks HC. I’ll stay seated
Yeah, not sure being 10-9 in December is something to be excited about,
Yeah let’s talk about last yr. That will tell us all we need to know about this yr. Last yr is forgotten like your take. Doc hasn’t avg a yr yet. And last yr like this yr. He never had a full squad. The more you know the less you see …….
He’s 1 game under .500. In the east as the Bucks HC . Like I said. I’ll stay seated
Don’t worry there’s still plenty of time for Doc to screw up a .500 team.
I thought NBA already removed the point differential stuff?
They removed point differential for overtimes, since under the previous format, there was incentive for a team up by 2-3 points late in a game to let it go to OT so that they could try to win by a bigger margin.
Regulation point differential is still the second tiebreaker after head-to-head results though.
I guess the Laker’s season is pretty much over, now that the allure and dream, of defending their coveted In Season Cup is over. Back to the drawing board for LA.
Does Haterade contain electrolytes? You lose a lot of salt through those tears…
Who the hell is crying? Seeing El Lakers lose makes me smile from ear to ear!
Celtics losing D White for any extended period would hurt more than most realize. Won’t matter most nights but in matchups like tonight w Cavs, they need his leadership, play making and clutch shooting. Without him they resort to isolation.
JT will never ever be MVP
Celtics four should-be All-Stars.
White, Pritchard, Jaylen & Jason.
Payton Pritchard is winning games off the bench for the Celtics.
An All-Star off the bench.