When Jayson Tatum went down in the fourth quarter at Madison Square Garden, head coach Joe Mazzulla didn’t hesitate to select his replacement.
He turned to his deep bench and called Payton Pritchard’s number.
Between an NBA championship and winning Sixth Man of the Year, it’s been an incredible 12 months for the former 26th overall pick.
But now he may need to step up to another level.
With Tatum’s injury potentially season-ending, Pritchard will either be slotted into the starting lineup or be forced to take on more minutes off the bench.
He already showed what he could do in game three of the series, scoring a career-high 23 points on 5-10 shooting from deep versus the Knicks.
Shout-out to Payton Pritchard ☘️
Playoff career-high 23 points on 5-for-10 3PT shooting in Game 3: pic.twitter.com/HFN0snkiOK
— Tomek Kordylewski (@Timi_093) May 11, 2025
He’s averaged 11.4 points per game these playoffs, but it’s not his first time on the big stage.
Pritchard was also instrumental in the Celtics’ run to the title last year. He had a few great performances, with some of his biggest highlights coming at the buzzer.
The NBA script writers gave Payton Pritchard all the best scenes
pic.twitter.com/z9BGLMuHNH— Drew Bishop (@drwbshp) June 18, 2024
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Pritchard may seem like an odd choice ahead of Jaylen Brown, Derrick White, or Kristaps Porzingis, but those players all carry heavy workloads even with Tatum in the lineup.
Without him, Pritchard is the first player to take on extra usage and shots. It also has been a struggle for last year’s Finals MVP, Jaylen Brown, who is averaging his lowest points per game (21.9) since 2020.
If Tatum misses any time, it will be much like it was Monday night with Boston relying on Pritchard to be even better than he already has been.
