Sixth man or ninth man, Payton Pritchard ready for Celtics in the playoffs

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BOSTON — The NBA’s Sixth Man of the Year award winner wasn’t the first player off the Celtics’ bench on Sunday. During a 103-86 Game 1 win against the Orlando Magic, Payton Pritchard wasn’t the second Boston reserve to enter the game either. Or the third.

In a departure from the usual Celtics rotation, Pritchard watched the first 10 minutes from the bench. Finally, with 1:50 left in the first quarter, he subbed in for Jrue Holiday as the ninth Celtics player to appear in the game. In the past, Pritchard said such a shift in playing time would have thrown him off mentally. Not anymore.

“As a player, young player, you might get frustrated,” Pritchard said after practice Tuesday. “You might be like, ‘Oh, I’m not playing as much tonight.’ But instead, now maturing a little bit, once you get your opportunity, you just take full advantage of it and don’t look back.”

Not letting the rotation change alter his approach, Pritchard made an immediate impact once he stepped onto the court. On his first offensive possession, he drained a long 3-pointer after losing Cole Anthony with a quick relocation from the corner to the wing. About 30 seconds later, Pritchard ran two-man action with Jayson Tatum to produce the matchup the Celtics wanted. Once Anthony switched onto Tatum, Pritchard found his All-Star teammate for a basket that allowed Boston to finish the first quarter with an eight-point lead. Pritchard then scored Boston’s first eight points of the second quarter to extend his team’s advantage to 34-22.

“Now, it’s just in this state of mind that it just doesn’t matter when you come in,” Pritchard said. “Like, if I’m going to have to sit the whole quarter and you think that’s what’s best for the team and I start the second, then I’m going to come out in the second quarter and give you everything I’ve got. So it’s just staying in that mindset and not allowing myself to get frustrated over anything. It’s just being ready for your moment.”

If Joe Mazzulla entered the game with a plan to cut Pritchard’s minutes, the guard’s performance altered that plan almost immediately. The Celtics didn’t stick with the rotation change in the second half. Pritchard re-entered the game at the 6:02 mark of the third quarter. After receiving just seven minutes in the first half, he played the final 18 minutes of the second. He finished with a postseason career-high 19 points on 6-for-8 shooting, including 4-for-6 on 3-point attempts.

It was a great start to a playoff run, Pritchard hopes will be better for him individually than last season’s run was. After seeing his minutes dwindle in the NBA Finals, he is hopeful that he has improved enough to stay on the court more often.

“I feel like every year, you get a little bit better,” Pritchard said. “So I hope that I’ve been, through a year now, I’ve gotten better than I was last year. So if that means I’m stronger, more in shape, better basketball IQ — I’ve just been through it now, so I understand what it takes and what this team needs. And I’m not saying it’s going to be scoring every night, but just this level of physicality, picking up the ball. This intensity, that’s what needs to be there every night.”

Pritchard’s scoring could become more critical if Tatum needs to miss any time in the series. The Celtics listed the All-Star as doubtful for Wednesday’s Game 2 with a bone bruise in his right wrist. Tatum suffered the injury during a hard fall early in the fourth quarter of Boston’s Game 1 win. If he does miss Game 2, it would be the first missed game of his postseason career. The Celtics went 8-2 without Tatum during the regular season.

Pritchard averaged 19.0 points, 5.3 assists and 5.0 rebounds during those 10 games. Over the entire regular season, he averaged career highs in points per game (14.3), rebounds per game (3.8), assists per game (3.5) and field goal percentage (47.2). He believes an increase in consistency helped lead to the most productive season of his career.

“My consistency game in, game out,” said Pritchard. “Just limiting overall bad games, I’m proud of that. Just my efficiency shooting-wise, I think has been really good this year, and just every summer, just finding different ways to get better and better and elevate my game, especially in the playoffs. And then hopefully next year comes and I elevate it again.”

Though the NBA had yet to announce the Sixth Man of the Year award winner at the time of the Celtics’ media availabilities on Tuesday, Al Horford must have known Pritchard had a great chance to earn the accolade. Horford said he didn’t want to jump the gun but was “very happy” for his teammate.

“I’m just so proud of Payton and the job that he’s done,” Horford said. “His consistency with his work ethic and how hard he works and how he’s taken care of his body. How he took the challenge on this year and (is) trying to take us to another level, not only on the offensive end but defensively. It’s remarkable to see. Just being put in different positions and trying to figure it out. There were certain games, a few games this year, where he could’ve gone and scored a lot more and chased records and done things like that. You can see the tape because you can see the film, he’s making the right play after right play in different moments.

“Instead of going for him, he’s making an extra pass, which is the right thing to do. He’s passing up a 3 and getting a two when he has a chance to break the 3-point record. He plays the right way, and I’m just so impressed by the way he’s been able to handle everything and how he gets himself ready to compete at that level.”

Like Horford, other teammates and coaches rave about Pritchard’s work ethic. How much does he care about hard work? During a video scoreboard segment aired during Game 1, he revealed that his number one pet peeve is when people don’t give it their all.

“I just don’t think you can accomplish anything at the highest of levels unless you give it your all,” Pritchard said. “You see some talented people in this world — I remember there was a Steve Nash quote and he was like, ‘I wouldn’t be in the position I am today if guys worked as hard as (I) did.’ He’s a little, 6-foot-2 White person, whatever, probably shouldn’t be what he was, but he outworked everybody. There’s people with a lot more gifts that are less like hardworking people and so that’s a pet peeve of mine. And that’s what I strive to be, the hardest worker.”

(Photo: Brian Fluharty / Getty Images)

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