While there was indeed some grumbling about reserve Boston Celtics guard Payton Pritchard’s post-bag yips, the Oregon alum wasn’t paying attention to them in the midst of a significant scoreless streak. “I haven’t been on social media and I haven’t been looking (…),” said Pritchard postgame via Boston Dot Com’s Connor Roche. “But it’s part of playing in Boston and that’s what I like about it. So I wouldn’t want to play anywhere else. But if I’m playing bad, I want to hear it. I’ll get it back.”
“I went back to what made me a good shooter in the first place, then I started dialing back into that,” explained the West Linn native of his return to form vs. the Brooklyn Nets on Friday. “It’s kind of just a mental game.”
“It starts to affect you, start second-guessing shots. But at the end of the day, you put in too much work, so I just believe in myself.”
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Still, it doesn’t hurt to have the man in charge of doling out floor time behind you, and Pritchard did, as he related. “(Celtics head coach) Joe (Mazzulla) came to me, and he was like, ‘You’re going to continue to play … You keep impacting winning in other areas, and that’s all that matters'”.
And with that vote of confidence and a return to fundamentals came a game that saw Fast PP put up 13 points, 5 rebounds (including 4 offensive ones), 3 assists, and a steal in 30 minutes of floor time. “This is part of the journey,” said Pritchard. “These slumps, I think end of the day will pay dividends and will make me a better player overall.”
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