BOSTON — The Boston Celtics were met with a significant challenge on Friday night. They were buried in buckets by the Atlanta Hawks and quickly faced a 25-9 deficit.

Then, Payton Pritchard turned the game on its head.

Alongside Derrick White’s ball-handling, Pritchard’s isolation scoring absolutely shredded the Hawks. And he didn’t stop in the second quarter.

His 36-point night carried Boston to a comeback win over Atlanta— a squad that had been 14-1 in its prior 15 games.

But what happened along the way?

1. Payton Pritchard master class

It was a clinic. Every dribble. Every drive. Every step-back. Pritchard attacked the Hawks with complete precision and, for the most part, they had no answer for him.

At first, the buckets were simple. Well, as simple as Pritchard’s isolation bag of tricks can possibly be. This was the simplicity the Hawks had to deal with as Boston mounted its early-game comeback.

                                              

And as Pritchard found his flow in isolation, the Celtics looked to get him going even more. Atlanta had most of its eyes — and top defenders — on Jayson Tatum. That left Pritchard room to work.

Just look at the way the Hawks set up their defense on this play.

Dyson Daniels is guarding Tatum, who is standing in the opposite corner to Pritchard. Jalen Johnson is on White, who is running the pick-and-roll, Onyeka Okongwu is on Neemias Queta, and CJ McCollum is on Sam Hauser.

Boston runs Spain PnR, setting Hauser up to set a back screen on Okongwu, who is guarding Queta (the primary screener). However, as soon as McCollum jumps up to help on White, Hauser makes his move.

He springs up to the wing, forcing Nickeil Alexander-Walker to help over, leaving Pritchard wide open in the corner. Pritchard was 5-for-5 from three-point range before that shot.

                                             

That’s how much pressure Boston’s offense puts on defenses. Pritchard was the beneficiary on Friday night. And he made sure to match that with some incredible isolation play.

                                             

But Pritchard did way more than just score the ball. His offensive rebounding efforts helped the Celtics maintain their lead late in the fourth quarter as the Hawks were making a push.

“The two plays,” Joe Mazzulla said. “The offensive