After allowing their opponents to collectively shoot over 51 percent from the field in the first four games of the season (dead-last in the NBA), the Celtics are a team that’s lucky to be 2-2 right now. To be fair, that’s a record they probably would have taken before the year even started given the tough schedule waiting for them out of the gate (Milwaukee, Brooklyn, Indiana x 2 on the road). Finding a way to get to 2-2 despite some woeful defense is an accomplishment in itself, but doesn’t mask the bigger issues that Danny Ainge will need to address midseason (finding a backup wing who can defend and shoot).
Those moves will come in time. For now, Brad Stevens’ job is finding out what he has across the rest of this roster and doing it while also staying competitive in the Eastern Conference playoff picture. While there’s plenty of uncertainty across the majority of the roster right now when it comes to ideal lineup combinations and who can be trusted on the undermanned second unit, the biggest development in the first week of the season might be the Celtics finding a hidden gem at the end of the first round in 2020.
Payton Pritchard can play. Marcus Smart was telling us this during training camp and the preseason gave us clues about what this guy could be. However, a 17-point second-half rally against an undefeated Pacers team would not have happened without Pritchard (10 points, 5 rebounds, 5 assists and a steal) doing a little bit of everything in the fourth quarter as a sidekick to Jayson Tatum.
“Payton is the GOAT, man,” Jaylen Brown said. “Payton came in there with the confidence. (We) definitely needed a spark coming off the bench and Payton was everything and more for us tonight. We're gonna need more guys to continue to step up. Excellent guy. Excellent job from Payton Pritchard, man. Kid can play and we're looking forward to him and other guys stepping up as well in the future.”
The damage was done by Pritchard all over the court, but his best work came in the pick-and-roll. He created open looks for himself and others and more importantly took some pressure off Tatum and Brown from having to do the same possessions after possession. With Pritchard serving as a versatile guard, the C’s got the ball moving again late, putting pressure on the Pacers defense, which opened up seams to attack for Tatum and company. On a night where Jeff Teague was struggling to make anything inside the arc, Pritchard was handed the keys to the second unit offense and helped guide it to a 26-6 game-changing run, sticking with the starters for a large chunk of it.
Pritchard ROTY?
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"Our guy Tommy would have loved this"
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