Payton Pritchard Proves He Should Return to Celtics Rotation

Payton Pritchard had helped force four turnovers on Joel Embiid. He contributed offensively too during the Celtics’ 108-103 loss to the 76ers on Monday, finishing with 14 points on 6-of-9 shooting and two assists. We can talk about the ways he contributed on that end, but his work playing through Embiid screen actions should’ve been enough to prove he should’ve played the entirety of the fourth quarter. It apparently wasn’t.

Instead, Romeo Langford subbed in with 1:54 remaining in the fourth quarter for Pritchard. Langford played quality defense in space throughout the game, but shot 0-for-3 with 0 points in 24 minutes. Boston needed a bucket to put the game away and Udoka opted for defense. Langford ended up sitting in the corner defensively anyway, away from Boston’s rotations that cost the Celtics. Jaylen Brown jumped off Danny Green to double Seth Curry on a kick-out and Danny Green made the critical three-pointer. Pritchard could’ve played the same role Langford did late, and helped when the Celtics needed points to stop the bleeding.

Brown, on offense, traveled down 99-98 after the Green three, made a difficult shot inside on Embiid, missed the rim on an elbow jumper two possessions later down by three points and threw an in-bounds pass away down four with 10 seconds left. He could’ve used Pritchard’s secondary ball-handling in those spots.

Brown takes the most blame for a 18-4 meltdown in the final minutes. The team’s inability to come together offensively in the final minutes undid what could’ve simply been a lesson for Brown in a win, a feather in Pritchard’s cap for facilitating Boston’s win and more useful repetitions for the team’s other young players.

Instead, a productive night turned into more soul-searching. The story of this franchise over the past two years.

“Bruno would be the other (Embiid matchup) as far as the standpoint of a big, and then you could always go extra small. You don’t love that with him, but take it out of his hands then take the risk of other guys getting loose around him,” Udoka said, looking back on the game plan. “We were, to some extent, defending (Embiid) well. He’s taking some tough twos … once we got (Seth) Curry under control, we felt good about where we were at … we were kind of living with him taking those tough shots and kind of keeping everybody else under control. Then he got going and we tried to take it out of his hands and we didn’t do a great job there.”

Udoka’s rigid rotations still loom over Boston’s ability to carry stretches of quality play. Jayson Tatum and Brown sometimes sit after getting going early in games. Bruno Fernando made two dynamic contests on 76ers shots, picking up a block and chase-down of Tobias Harris that drew a phantom foul call for the Philadelphia forward. He played sparingly the rest of the way, as Udoka shadowed Embiid with Enes Freedom. 

That might’ve been the best defense Boston could muster against Embiid, who scored 41 points and sprayed the ball around the court. We didn’t find out. Pritchard’s impact was undeniable though. He spaced the floor, played active defense and hit shots playing off Tatum following a productive night over the Knicks.

Josh Richardson joined closing units for the Celtics in games against the Jazz and Knicks recently. Udoka can rely on his defense, that’s likely the difference. Pritchard hasn’t played enough for anyone to tell. He averaged 8.8 minutes per game and sat five times prior to his 19-point outburst late in his home town of Portland.

“As a competitor it is tough,” Pritchard said Monday. “For me, I try to go to work every day and get better. “When my opportunity comes, I can help my team win and that’s the only thing I can control.”

Even when Richardson entered COVID protocols in Phoenix, Pritchard didn’t play until the fourth quarter after racking up garbage time minutes against the Lakers and sitting against the Clippers. He finally got real run (28 minutes) against the Knicks.

Pritchard struggled earlier in the season shooting, which earned him his rookie role. The sparse minutes didn’t allow him to develop rhythm on the ball or with his jumper. After missing some early deep bombs against the Knicks, he moved closer to the rim and shot over Kemba Walker. That sparked a 12-for-19 run from the field and 6-for-12 mark from three over the past two games.

His small stature likely spooks Udoka away from involving him in his switch-heavy scheme and allowing a player like Embiid to isolate him one-on-one. The necessity of blitzing Embiid, which Pritchard got active in, helped him succeed through his quick hands, but Pritchard also rotated on the perimeter to stop Philadelphia passing away from Embiid. On the one opportunity where Embiid lined up Pritchard one-on-one, Freedom showed helped and Pritchard held long enough to force a turnover.

Udoka needed to challenge the play to secure it, one of many rough calls against the Celtics including that aforementioned Fernando block. Dennis Schröder got called for a phantom foul call inside, Tatum’s late offensive foul driving into Matisse Thybulle (which would’ve been Thybulle’s sixth) and a charge call on Aaron Nesmith on his driving floater. Those were aside from crunch time though.

Pritchard found his shot again inside the arc when his early threes wouldn’t fall. His back-to-back jumpers maintained the Celtics’ lead as Curry peppered Boston’s defense on the other end.

Brad Stevens utilized Pritchard as a change-of-pace ball handler who had excellent game sense, finding the right spots on the floor, pushing the pace up the floor and keeping the ball moving in the half court. His pick-and-roll prowess still needs to improve and he can get swallowed up easily in the lane. Unlike most of the other Celtics, he’ll move and shoot away from the ball and accentuate the Jays when they’re on-ball. Shot-dependent.

Pritchard capped his night hitting a three in a two-man game with Tatum everyone should want to see more of.

The next play, he swung the ball from Tatum as he drew the 76ers’ defense to the right to Brown on the weak side for what should’ve been his decisive three-pointer, putting ahead 97-90.

From there, he moved into spacing mode. Philadelphia wasn’t glued to Pritchard’s face in the corner, but as Tatum and Brown attacked the interior they were able to navigate through the traffic in the lane and the 76ers couldn’t fully commit to help away from Pritchard.

Embiid, playing drop defense as he regularly does, took care of business himself.

Embiid stuffed Brown, Thybulle took care of Tatum’s fadeaway and Smart’s ill-advised swinging arm driving into Thybulle on the play that fouled out the Sixers wing cost Boston a point when Doc Rivers challenged. Tatum lost the ball to Embiid in the lane. On all those plays, Pritchard drew his defender away from the basket.

That’s where Pritchard’s night ended. His lack of involvement in the closing stretch ahead and stationary role in the plays prior collectively had major consequences for the offense. The Celtics botched some rotations late too, but Pritchard played no part in those and the offense could’ve easily escaped Philadelphia’s late charge with one or two buckets.

Pritchard can provide those. Brown and Tatum need to continue to grow as playmakers in those consequential spots. Tatum’s late screen to help foul out Thybulle continued his commitment, along with getting off the ball in favor of Brown as he raced to 30 points. Brown couldn’t get it done, but would’ve been helped by some support from a player who less than one year ago looked like one of the Celtics’ best players period.

COVID protocols will continue to funnel opportunity Pritchard’s way. Another no-show for Schröder where the offense functioned in spite of it increases the case to move on from him in favor of assets or a different player. Pritchard, if he continues to play like this, could take on the veteran’s ball time along with Brown.

“Added opportunity for him,” Udoka said. “He’s a guy that we’re extremely confident in him … he’s extremely hungry, he’s always in the gym ready. So you’re not worried about his preparation … obviously one of our best shooters. The thing with that has been a minute crunch with Dennis being the backup for most of the year. So that’s all it is. It’s nothing Payton has done or has not done. He’s a guy, I’m from the same city as him, I’ve seen him in high school win state championships, watched him in college and have extreme confidence in … it was good to see him do what he did, but not surprising.”