Payton Pritchard’s huge night leads short-handed Celtics over streaking Hawks: 7 takeaways
Pritchard notched 36 points in a dominant performance from the field.
The Celtics were without Jaylen Brown, but Payton Pritchard and Jayson Tatum led the way to a win over the streaking Hawks, claiming a 109-102 win over a team that had won 14 of its last 15 games.
Here are the takeaways.
Payton Pritchard was otherworldly
You’ve seen Payton Pritchard make all of the shots he made against the Hawks before.
Pritchard didn’t break out anything new — he was 13-for-23 from the floor and 6-for-11 from 3-point range. His shot diet was made up of a mix of pull-up 3-pointers out of the pick-and-roll and in transition, which he made look much easier than they really are, as well as some bulldog-determined drives to the basket and put-backs.
What makes Pritchard so dangerous, however, is nights like Friday when he pieces all of those shots together. Against the Hawks, he finished with a game-high 36 points.
“I don’t think my role changed than any other night,” Pritchard said. “Just come out being aggressive, looking to make plays for my teammates or for myself, and just make the right reads.”
Mazzulla noted that Pritchard’s impact went far beyond scoring — the 6-foot-1 guard grabbed two crucial offensive rebounds in the second half (including one that Mazzulla quipped looked like a “defensive boxout”), and he drew a controversial foul hustling after another (which we will get to shortly).
“It’s just those big-time plays for us,” Mazzulla said. “He’s not defined by scoring, so that helps us a lot when he does other things.”
Pritchard added that his goal is “just winning basketball.”
“I want to win, so obviously, you want to make a play,” Pritchard said. “You see somebody shoot the ball, and I see it coming off the rim, and I’m just fighting, try to get it, get an extra possession. Those little things like that can change the game and win a game.
“So, yeah, it’s just about the want and competitive spirit.”
Jayson Tatum played a lot
If the Celtics ever had a real minutes limit on Tatum, that is clearly gone — Tatum played 36 minutes. While he hasn’t found his shot entirely yet (8-for-24 on Friday), Tatum earned 10 trips to the free-throw line and put up 25 points to go with 12 rebounds and five assists.
While Tatum tries to get his shot on track, he still helps the offense flow smoothly as a distributor, especially with Brown sidelined for the time being.
Tatum noted that he is still rusty.
“It’s all over the place. Sometimes I’ll be dribbling the [expletive] the ball and I like mishandle,” Tatum said. “Sometimes I still have the ball but it’s just, like, damn. It’s frustrating. Obviously some of the shots and layups at the rim, just kind of moving too fast a little bit. So it’s frustrating to me.”
Tatum may be frustrated, but he’s still doing things like this when he gets Onyeka Okongwu on a switch.
