Celtics notebook: How Payton Pritchard sparked C’s in career-best playoff game

NEW YORK With five seconds remaining in the first quarter of Saturday s Match at Madison Square Garden Payton Pritchard received the ball deep in the backcourt and took off He looped toward the opposite sideline sprinting past Knicks guard Miles McBride Once he reached New York s -point line center Mitchell Robison rotated over to help and force Pritchard away from the paint Pritchard slowed paused and using Robinson s momentum against him lofted a high-arcing fallaway jumper over the outstretched arms of both defenders as the horn sounded Swish It was Pritchard s th made jumper in the final second of a quarter over the last two seasons the greater part of any Boston member This one gave the Celtics a -point lead and set the tone for the largest part productive postseason performance of the NBA Sixth Man of the Year s career Pritchard went on to set playoff career highs in minutes points made field goals -for- and made -pointers -for- as the Celtics trucked the Knicks - for their first win of the Eastern Conference semifinals Payton was huge teammate Jaylen Brown declared postgame Payton was great New York likes to be they re physical They ve got particular big guards wings that like to load up on the ball The level of physicality is higher So you ve got to be able to make those passes and be able to make those shots and make those plays Payton did a great job of that tonight Related Articles Kristaps Porzingis comes off bench in Match after ominous medical overview Jayson Tatum shares candid perspective on spotlight after Celtics Challenge win Celtics embrace darkness blow out Knicks in much-needed Event win Celtics rule out rotation player for pivotal Championship vs Knicks We have to win Celtics title defense hinges on pivotal Battle at MSG Pritchard played the final of the first half then logged another unbroken shift that stretched from the mark of the third quarter to the mark of the fourth He then returned to the court in garbage time closing out the win alongside deep reserves Baylor Scheierman Torrey Craig Neemias Queta and Jordan Walsh Questioned about Pritchard s increased usage he played minutes in Competition and in Event Celtics head coach Joe Mazzulla revealed starting guard Jrue Holiday s foul trouble was a contributing factor Holiday who picked up his third foul a minute into the second half played minutes in Event fewer than any other Boston starter Our sub patterns are reliably flexible Mazzulla revealed Tonight Jrue had three fouls Payton was good you re just at times you go with what makes the most of sense Just the flexibility of what we re able to do But he played really well on both ends of the floor for us There was a little bit of foul trouble there so we were able to go to particular different stuff Pritchard s focus he stated was to play aggressively and capitalize on open looks without being reckless with the ball He did not commit a turnover across his minutes Just got to maintain my aggressiveness any chance I get he noted Attack the paint I ll unfailingly be hunting the three ball obviously but I thought I did a good job of sometimes getting in the paint making a play For me it s just about strength coming in If I got to get a rebound get an assist get a stop hit a big shot got to be ready for everything His mindset entering Contest on Monday night when the Celtics will have a chance to tie to series at - before it shifts back to Boston for Challenge You wouldn t want to be in any other position as a competitor Pritchard revealed This is the best moment you can be in down - backs against the wall You just bring it and I think we re all prepared for it and we knew the task at hand so we did a good job in Tournament Now we ve got to move on and do it again Celtics more poised One obvious improvement for the Celtics in Tournament was their team-wide shooting After going an ugly -for- from -point range over the first two games they doubled their long-range field-goal percentage on Saturday making of their -point attempts They also cut down on the sloppy turnovers and defensive breakdowns that along with their erratic shot-making helped the Knicks overcome -point third-quarter deficits in Games and New York staged several mini-rallies after halftime largest part notably an - surge early in the third quarter and a - run to start the fourth the latter of which featured three straight made threes but Boston did not allow any to develop into a legitimate comeback The Celtics led by -plus points for the entire second half I think we had much better poise this competition Al Horford revealed Sunday in a video conference Poise was key for us I feel like we really executed when we needed to Defensively we were solid and we were able to control those parts of the championship Mazzulla agreed Competition they had seven points in transition as opposed to in Competition the coach announced We didn t have live-ball turnovers and we won the end of quarters - That makes a huge difference against a gang like New York Hauser upgraded Sam Hauser is on the mend After missing Games and with an ankle sprain Hauser was upgraded to questionable for Championship He s getting there Mazzulla explained Sunday He s getting better He s day to day getting better every day so just got to continue that process He s a little bit better currently than he was the last day and he s just got to continue to work to get there Getting Hauser back would add extra scoring punch to Boston s bench though he s been quiet so far this postseason After leading the Celtics in -point shooting percentage during the regular season the reserve wing has totaled just points on -of- shooting across six playoff appearances Hauser was the only member listed on the Celtics latest injury document Kristaps Porzingis was not as he continues to battle recurring responses from the viral illness he first contracted in late February Porzingis who came off the bench in Games and and is averaging just minutes per event in this series addressed his limitations in an Instagram post Sunday writing thankful for all the help people onwards and upwards