Pritchard stepped up as Jaylen Brown missed the second half of Boston’s back to back.
Payton Pritchard scored 33 points on Saturday night. (Frank Gunn/The Canadian Press via AP)
With no Jaylen Brown and on the second half of a back to back against a Raptors team that entered the night with the third best record in the Eastern Conference, the Celtics still found a way to win on Saturday night.
And no player was more impactful offensively in the Celtics’ win over the Raptors than Payton Pritchard. Pritchard scored a game-high 33 points with 10 assists, and came up three rebounds shy of a triple double.
Brown has been the offensive spark plug all season for the Celtics, averaging nearly 30 points per game this season. But Pritchard had no issue assuming that role for one night.
The 27-year-old guard has had an up and down season thus far. When Boston used its offseason to shed salary cap, it became clear Pritchard would take on an increased role. He’s a full-time starter for the first time in his career, but that has also led to his worst career year in terms of 3-point percentage.
Pritchard had a 40.7 3-point percentage in 2024 when he won the NBA’s sixth man of the year award. That percentage has gone all the way down to 33 percent nearly a third of the way through this season.
That said, Pritchard is still steadily improving as a player, averaging 16.4 points, five assists and 4.3 rebounds per game. All are career-highs for the guard.
Pritchard is also becoming lethal in ways that don’t revolve around his three point jumper. His midrange fadeaway has become a key part of his game, and he has been lethal shooting in the paint outside of the restricted area. He went 6 of 7 shooting from that area of the floor on Saturday, and on the season is shooting over 64 percent from there.
Pritchard is one of the smaller guards in the league, but that hasn’t held him back from taking on more workload each season. In 2025, he’s proving he can not only hang in as a starter, but play quality basketball for over 30 minutes a night.
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