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Celtics’ Ime Udoka, Jayson Tatum, Payton Pritchard talk the latter’s growing role with Boston

Justin Quinn
·4 min read

One of the biggest missing pieces in the Boston Celtics’ increasingly airtight game has been a lack of scoring off of the bench, even after the team retooled its rotation from top to bottom at the 2022 NBA trade deadline with an eye to reshaping the team to share the ball — and the scoring load — more.

But in recent games, second-year combo guard Payton Pritchard has been helping to pick up the slack in that regard, most notably in the Celtics’ big win over the Sacramento Kings at Golden 1 Center midway through their final West Coast swing of the 2021-22 NBA season.

“It’s huge,” related Boston head coach Ime Udoka after the Kings win that saw Pritchard put up 14 points, 5 rebounds, and 8 assists in 21 minutes. “He’s obviously one of our best shooters.”

“The trick for him was to learn to play off the ball, and understand that we have Marcus (Smart), Derrick (White), Jayson (Tatum), Jaylen (Brown) that can all handle and create shots for him,” he added.

“At times, he’s a great screener and popper, and he mixes it up and we bring some smaller matchups into it. So he’s done a great job of not just handling it, but playing off the ball. And then, like I said, him being one of our best shooters, guys are really looking for him, you can feel that you can see it, looking for him and transition, so just adds another layer to our team. But the confidence part was always there for him.”

“It’s just a matter of the opportunity,” suggested the Celtics coach.

“It’s big having guys that can space the floor, and knock down those shots and he just makes us more dynamic and it builds confidence,” added Tatum of Pritchard’s help off of the bench.

“There’s nothing better than seeing the ball go through the net, especially as a shooter so I’m happy for him, and we keep it going.”

The man himself was at the postgame presser to talk about his growing role with the team after the blowout victory, with Pritchard making it clear he would be working towards helping the team win regardless of the form it takes.

“People want to look at like stats and numbers but the beginning of the year, I’m playing sometimes at the very end of games and different minutes, so like I said before, my job is just come in and be ready knock down shots, play hard defense, make plays, (and) be a winning player.”

“So for me, once the trade deadline happened, my mindset was just to come in and compete, and keep earning more trust in the coaches,” he shared.

“At the end of the day, I’m a basketball player,” he continued. You could put me anywhere on the court and I’m trying to make something happen.”

“In the NBA, you want to be able to play multiple positions, so for me to be able to play off the ball with Jaylen, Jayson, Marcus, Derrick, and also with the ball — it’s a positionless league, so now that’s all I’m trying to do.”

That’s exactly the sort of attitude that will bring both he and his team success in the long run, and as Boston continues to rack up wins in the second half of the season, it will also set confidence and expectations high at just the right time.

With the Celtics now in the East’s fourth-place slot and just 11 games remaining in the regular-season schedule, Boston needs to establish familiarity and comfort for Pritchard in such a rile to maximize their postseason ceiling.

This post originally appeared on Celtics Wire. Follow us on Facebook!

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