With the Celtics’ season on the line, Payton Pritchard set personal records (and showed what he’s made of)

NEW YORK CITY — On Wednesday night, the Celtics stunningly became the first team in NBA history to blow 20-point leads in back-to-back playoff games. One more letdown loss would have thrust them into treacherous territory, trailing the Knicks 3-0, despite being the overwhelming favorites entering the second-round match-up.

The outside noise following the Celtics’ second consecutive fourth-quarter collapse grew loud, with national media and fans alike questioning the defending champions’ toughness.

But, Payton Pritchard — who opts to avoid television discourse and social media — didn’t mind.

“You wouldn’t want to be in any other position as a competitor,” he said. “This is the best moment you can be in.”

On Saturday afternoon at TD Garden, the Celtics’ Sixth Man of the Year played 34 minutes, 12 more minutes than he logged in Game 2.

The result?

A team-high 23 points in the Celtics’ Game 3 blowout win over the Knicks.

“Payton was huge,” said Jaylen Brown after the 115-93 victory. “Payton was great.”

The 34 minutes marked a new playoff career-high for Pritchard, who was out of the rotation for most of the 2023 playoff run and averaged 18.7 minutes per game in 2024 en route to the championship.

But even when Pritchard’s opportunities have fluctuated in the past, his preparation and work ethic never wavered.

“Some guys just have a certain mentality that they carry themselves with,” Brown said last spring. “Payton is someone you don’t worry about. Even in the lowest of times, he’s a hard worker and his mindset is phenomenal, relentless — a never-give-up, warrior-like mentality.”

Pritchard, who had 21 points across the first two games of the series, delivered his biggest punch in Game 3, hitting 8 of 16 field goals in his highest-scoring playoff game of all time.

And, he did it when it mattered most: with the Celtics on the brink of a deficit that no team in NBA history has ever overcome.

Why the extended opportunities for the Sixth Man of the Year?

Pritchard’s increased production in Game 3 was the result of increased opportunity.

In Game 1, Pritchard played 24 (of 53) game minutes. He followed that up with a 22-minute outing in Game 2.

But, with Sam Hauser missing a second straight game with a right ankle sprain suffered in Game 1 — and the Celtics’ offense struggling through two games — Joe Mazzulla opted to utilize Pritchard for a more extended run on Monday.

Afterwards, Mazzulla maintained that the rotation change was due to Jrue Holiday getting into foul trouble.

“Our sub-patterns are always flexible,” Mazzulla said. ”Tonight, Jrue had three fouls, and Payton was good. At times, you go with what makes the most sense — just the flexibility of what we were able to do. But he played really well on both ends of the floor for us.”

To be fair, Holiday was never really in significant foul trouble. He racked up one foul in the first quarter, one in the second, and one in the third — the same foul pattern that Jayson Tatum accrued.

But, from the moment Pritchard checked into the game midway through the first quarter, he was impactful offensively, scoring 7 points in his first stint, including a quintessential shot to beat the end-of-first-quarter buzzer over Mitchelll Robinson.

He ultimately made 5 three-pointers on 10 attempts — both game-highs.

Among his baskets, he hit threes off of nice feed from Al Horford and Kristaps Porzingis, drove to the basket for a tough reverse layup on Deuce McBride, and pulled up for three over Mitchell Robinson.

Payton Pritchard hasn’t shied away from threes despite the noise

Pritchard is well aware that many have lamented the Celtics’ proclivity toward launching from the outside — a discourse that’s gotten louder of late, but has persisted throughout the Mazzulla era.

Despite the discussions, Pritchard and the rest of the Celtics have kept shooting.

“We watched areas where we could clean up a little bit, but it was really just being more confident and letting it fly,” Pritchard said. “Don’t second-guess a good shot. You come off a ball screen, and it’s there, it’s like — who cares what the outside world is saying? ‘We shoot too many threes,’ everybody is all saying that, but if you believe in your shot and you’re able to hit it, then take it confidently. That’s really just the biggest thing.”

Pritchard has been far and away the Celtics’ best three-point shooter this postseason, shooting 45.2% from beyond the arc. Holiday, who’s shot 36.8% from three, is a distant second, while no other Celtic has shot better than 36% from three through 8 games.

”As long as we’re getting good looks, the percentages will play out the right way,” Pritchard said. “I know we struggled with shooting the last two games, but we all believe in our shooting abilities.”

For Pritchard, the postseason isn’t much different than the opportunities he gets in the regular season. He’s not worried about his scoring — he’s worried about impacting winning, something he’s stressed all season long.

“I just got to maintain my aggressiveness any chance I get,” he said. “Attack the paint, but always be hunting the three-ball, obviously. I thought I did a good job of getting in the paint, making a play. But for me, it’s just about energy. Coming in, I got to get a rebound, get an assist, get a stop, hit a big shot — got to be ready for everything.”

Only four players in the league who have made as many threes (19) as Pritchard has in these playoffs have shot better than him: Aaron Nesmith, Gary Trent Jr., Naz Reid, and Buddy Hield.

Pritchard and the Celtics responded in a big way in Game 3

Since Wednesday night, the Celtics have had to live in the aftermath of two straight collapses.

But, Mazzulla said the past few days haven’t been particularly difficult.

“If you plan on doing this for a long time, it’ll be a lot worse than these 72 hours,” Mazzulla said. “That’s the perspective you have to have.”

Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown still haven’t played their best basketball this series; Brown is averaging 20.7 points on 36.1% shooting, while Tatum is averaging 19.3 points on 32.3% shooting — both substantially below their season and career marks.

So, in the wake of the star duo’s struggles, Pritchard has emerged as a release valve on offense.

“They [New York] got some big guards, wings that like to load up on the ball,” Brown said. “The level of physicality is higher. So, you got to be able to make those passes, and be able to make those shots and make those plays, and Payton did a great job of that tonight.

Across the three second-round games, Pritchard has scored 45 points, just 1 point fewer than the entire Knicks’ bench. On Sunday, he scored more points (23) than the Knicks’ bench (21).

The Celtics still trail the Eastern Conference Semi-Finals series against the Knicks, and still need to win 3 of their next 4 games to advance.

But, they’re not shying away from the challenge.

“This is the fun part,” Mazzulla said. “You don’t get into the journey for it to be easy.”

“Now, it’s on to Game 4,” Pritchard said. “We got to have the same mindset, get it to 2-2, and bring it back home.”