Celtics' Payton Pritchard: Dominates off bench again

Pritchard finished Sunday's 111-89 win over the Lakers with 30 points (10-14 FG, 6-9 3Pt, 4-4 FT), eight assists and four rebounds over 38 minutes.

Pritchard was held scoreless in the first quarter, but he quickly caught fire with in the second frame with 11 points, including a buzzer-beating three to extend the Celtics' halftime lead to 10 points. He helped Boston close things out with another 11 points in the fourth quarter and finished as the team's second-leading scorer behind Jaylen Brown (32 points). It was the fifth time this season that Pritchard scored at least 30 points in a game, and the sixth-year point guard has connected on six triples in back-to-back outings. He started in each of his first 48 appearances of the 2025-26 regular season before being moved to the bench Feb. 3 following the Celtics' trade of Anfernee Simons (wrist) to the Bulls in exchange for Nikola Vucevic. However, Pritchard hasn't lost a beat in a role familiar to him, as the 2024-25 6MOTY has scored at least 24 points in six of his last seven appearances.