{"id":114591,"date":"2024-12-28T15:56:17","date_gmt":"2024-12-28T20:56:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/?p=114591"},"modified":"2024-12-28T15:56:17","modified_gmt":"2024-12-28T20:56:17","slug":"celtics-payton-pritchard-sixth-man-of-the-year","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2024\/12\/28\/celtics-payton-pritchard-sixth-man-of-the-year\/","title":{"rendered":"Celtics Key Role Player Gaining Support from Teammates"},"content":{"rendered":"

While the\u00a0<\/span>Boston Celtics<\/span><\/a> are doing their thing,\u00a0<\/span>Payton Pritchard<\/span><\/a> is also doing his thing. One of the league’s most underrated players is crafting together a solid season. Pritchard is, without a doubt, Boston’s most crucial rotation player. He’s curating such a season that his teammates are pushing him to capture one of the NBA’s top honors: Sixth Man of the Year.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Celtics Key Role Player Gaining Support from Teammates<\/h2>\n

Boston Celtics X-Factor Payton Pritchard Speedy Rise<\/h3>\n

Okay, so maybe the Celtics aren’t going to exactly run away with the East for a second consecutive season. The Cleveland Cavaliers sit atop the East and are four games ahead of Boston. We also can’t look past the\u00a0<\/span>New York Knicks<\/span><\/a>, who are running with speed not far behind the Celtics; only two wins separate the two squads. However, all of that being said, Boston is still likely the best team in the league by the consideration of the majority.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

While the C’s continue to be led by the NBA’s capital starting lineup, their depth isn’t all that bad, either. That’s where Pritchard comes in, Boston’s second-unit electric energy bolt. He can go off at any moment in any game. Pritchard began to make his mark going back two seasons during the Celtics playoff run that eventually ended at the hands of the\u00a0<\/span>Miami Heat<\/span><\/a> in the Eastern Conference Finals. He carried his momentum into the 2023-24 season when he quickly became Boston’s best off-the-bench player. In no time at all, Pritchard\u00a0created in himself a fan favorite and one of the most underrated players and scorers across the league.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Last season, he averaged career highs in points, assists, rebounds, minutes, and field goal percentage. This season, he’s surpassed those career highs with even better numbers. Pritchard is averaging 15.4 points, 3.8 rebounds, 3.4 assists, and shooting 41.2% from three in 28 minutes a night. While his 46.6 % from the field relatively mirrors last season’s 46.8%, Pritchard has significantly improved his overall game. His jump in minutes shows just how much Joe Mazzulla trusts him now more than ever. Pritchard averaged 22 minutes last season.<\/p>\n

On Mission to Win 6MOY<\/h3>\n

Pritchard is creating such an impact on the floor that the guys around him are pushing him to win the Sixth Man of the Year award.\u00a0<\/span>Jaylen Brown<\/span><\/a>\u00a0spoke about the\u00a0<\/span>team’s support for Pritchard<\/span><\/a>\u00a0earlier this week following a 142-105 romp over the Indiana Pacers.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI think we\u2019re only as strong as each link, so it\u2019s about empowering guys and continuing to create play. It would mean a lot for the team to get Payton, to help him get Sixth Man of the Year.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Pritchard has to feel extra confident knowing that his teammates are set on this mission. Considering the type of character that exudes from his head coach, Mazzulla is undoubtedly pushing Pritchard for the same mission. Since taking over as head coach for the Celtics, Mazzulla has shown how much he loves his players and how much he wants them to succeed, individually and collectively. On that note, Pritchard is surrounded by all the right people and the perfect team environment to win 6MOY. Besides that, he’s playing like he deserves it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

While the\u00a0Boston Celtics are doing their thing,\u00a0Payton Pritchard is also doing his thing. One of the league’s most underrated players is crafting together a solid season. Pritchard is, without a doubt, Boston’s most crucial rotation player. He’s curating such a season that his teammates are pushing him to capture one of the NBA’s top honors: […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5081,"featured_media":114616,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[5,1608,62],"tags":[450,4865,2614],"class_list":["post-114591","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-celtics","category-basketball","category-nba","tag-jaylen-brown","tag-joe-mazzulla","tag-payton-pritchard"],"modified_by":"Aaron J Zacharias","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/114591","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5081"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=114591"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/114591\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":114632,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/114591\/revisions\/114632"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/114616"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=114591"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=114591"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=114591"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}