How Pritchard made strong impact on both ends in Celtics' Game 1 win

How Pritchard made strong impact on both ends in Celtics' Game 1 win originally appeared on NBC Sports Boston

One of the reasons why the Boston Celtics could be more difficult to beat in the 2025 NBA playoffs compared to last year’s championship run is the emergence of Payton Pritchard as a go-to scorer and momentum-shifter off the bench.

Pritchard made a huge impact in Game 1 of the Celtics’ first-round playoff series against the Orlando Magic at TD Garden on Sunday, which Boston won 103-86.

The Sixth Man of the Year Award favorite entered the series opener with 1:50 left in the first quarter and immediately hit a 3-pointer, then assisted on a Jayson Tatum 3-point shot as the C’s closed the opening 12 minutes with a 26-18 lead.

Pritchard then scored eight points in the first four minutes of the second quarter before exiting with 7:50 remaining in the half and the Celtics up 39-31. He did not play the rest of the quarter and the Celtics offense began to stall. Orlando capitalized on this and ended the half on a 19-8 run to take a 49-48 lead into the break.

The Celtics found their groove again in the second half. Pritchard hit a couple 3-pointers early in the fourth quarter to destroy any hope the Magic might have had of a late-game run.

Pritchard finished with a playoff career-high 19 points on an efficient 6-for-8 shooting (4-for-6 from beyond the arc). The Celtics outscored the Magic by 13 points during Pritchard’s 25 minutes of playing time. He actually ended up outscoring the entire Magic bench (19-17) by himself.

The Celtics’ scoring depth might be their biggest strength and a huge advantage over pretty much every other team in the playoffs. Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown both scored fewer than 20 points Sunday. For most teams, an average (or worse) performance from your two-best players will often result in a loss. But it wasn’t an issue for the Celtics because Pritchard, Jrue Holiday and Derrick White picked up the slack with a combined 58 points on 19-for-32 shooting.

“I think we did a very good job on those guys (Tatum and Brown),” Magic head coach Jamahl Mosley told reporters postgame. “Made it tough on them, made it difficult for them to get easy shots. They had a couple blow-bys to the rim, but for the most part it was the Derrick Whites of the world and the Payton Pritchards, coming off the bench for 19. Two guys that you don’t necessarily account for coming up with 49 points. I think we’ve got to do a better job there.”

Pritchard had some good games in the playoffs last season, but he wasn’t very consistent. He scored 10-plus points in four of the five games against the Cleveland Cavaliers in the Eastern Conference semifinals. But in the other three rounds, he scored in double-digits only twice. He really struggled against the Dallas Mavericks in the NBA Finals, scoring 17 total points over five games.

Pritchard has been much more reliable this season. He scored in double-digits in 57 of his 80 games played, which helped him average a career-best 14.3 points per game.

Pritchard isn’t just a one-way player, though. Despite his lack of size (6-foot-1, 195 pounds), he plays with great effort, physicality, energy and attention to detail on defense. There aren’t many weak spots in Boston’s lineup. But if teams are going to hunt one player on offense, it’ll probably be Pritchard.

The Magic tried to do that a little bit in Game 1 and didn’t have much success. They shot 3-for-7 against Pritchard when he was the primary defender. Magic star Franz Wagner shot 1-for-3 against Pritchard. Pritchard isn’t a lockdown defender, but he’ll make you work hard to score on him.

His defense did not go unnoticed by head coach Joe Mazzulla.

“I thought he was just as good defensively as he was offensively,” Mazzulla told reporters postgame. “Just him pushing the pace on the offensive end, but really his physicality at the point of attack was big for us. I think he got two tip-out rebounds in the second half that were big for us.”

Holiday had a similar assessment of Pritchard’s all-around impact.

“I think when he first came out, he had a quick 11 points (in the first half) — crazy,” Holiday told reporters postgame. “I think just Payton being Payton, taking the opportunity. Payton is also a gamer, as everybody here sees. Any opportunity he can to put the ball in the basket, he does it. But what makes him special is what he does on the defensive end — picking up anybody full-court, just being a dog, hounding whoever is in front of him.”

If the Celtics are going to get back to the Finals and repeat as champs, their offense will need to be firing on all cylinders. Boston’s path to a title, assuming they eliminate the Magic, would likely include the New York Knicks in the conference semifinals, the Cavaliers in the Eastern Conference Finals and the Oklahoma City Thunder in the Finals. All three of those teams ranked top 10 in scoring during the regular season. The Cavs ranked No. 1.

The Celtics probably will need to consistently score around 110 to 115 points per game in the playoffs to achieve their ultimate goal. If Pritchard chips in 15-plus points off the bench on a consistent basis, the C’s should have no trouble scoring enough points to beat their toughest competition.

Pritchard is an X-factor who raises the Celtics’ ceiling when he gives performances like he did Sunday.