BOSTON — Payton Pritchard completed Friday’s Celtics win in opposition to the Toronto Raptors with a powerful statline: 27 factors (12-19 FG), 8 assists — and only a single turnover.
The scoring is noteworthy; Pritchard has had some quieter offensive nights this 12 months, and he’s solely tallied no less than 27 factors six occasions this season (whether or not ‘solely’ is even a good qualifier there may be debatable). He started the season in a capturing droop — capturing 17.4% from three in October — and nonetheless hasn’t discovered a constant groove from the surface, regardless of exterior capturing being one of many greatest strengths of his recreation.
However the a part of the stat line that’s nearly turn into the norm is Pritchard’s assist-to-turnover ratio: tallying 8 assists and simply 1 turnover has allowed Pritchard to turn into a beginning guard within the NBA. Even by way of early-season capturing struggles, the Celtics guard has at all times been constant in a single space: taking good care of the ball.
Pritchard has the NBA’s greatest assist-to-turnover ratio (4.53) amongst gamers who play no less than 20 minutes per recreation and tally no less than 2 assists, and since coming into the league, he’s at all times been close to the highest of that leaderboard, albeit in smaller samples.
That’s been key to each his — and the Celtics’ — offensive success. The Celtics have the second-most environment friendly offense within the NBA, and, to Pritchard’s shock, the one best offense since early December.
That’s the results of a confluence of things, however Mazzulla would level again to their low turnover charge if he needed to decide one.
“Crucial factor is valuing the basketball,” stated the Celtics head coach. “For those who can play nearly all of the sport, nearly assured to get a shot each single time, that’s going to assist your effectivity. There are such a lot of issues that go into that — our spacing, our screening, our ball dealing with, our execution, our reads, all these issues go into ensuring it’s a must to get a shot each time.”
As a staff, the Celtics common the fewest turnovers per recreation at 11.9, and have the second-lowest turnover share at 12.4%.
“I really feel like we simply do a very good job taking good care of the ball,” Pritchard stated. “My faculty coaches would at all times say, in case you’re getting photographs on the rim and never turning it over, you’re due for some factors.”
Pritchard heads that cost, averaging simply 1.2 turnovers per recreation regardless of shouldering a number of the staff’s offensive load. Mazzulla attributes that to 1 deep-rooted behavior: an unwavering potential to not decide up his dribble.
“The most important factor is he is aware of find out how to hold his dribble,” Mazzulla stated. “That, to me, is the most important factor. He is aware of find out how to hold his dribble. He is aware of find out how to get himself out of robust spots. He is aware of find out how to make performs. He creates conditions. He had an ideal knack for understanding find out how to hold his dribble.”
Pritchard stated that not turning the ball over is one thing that has lengthy been ingrained in him, ranging from when he performed a couple of grades above his personal throughout youth basketball, and spanning by way of his time because the freshman level guard on the College of Oregon.
“Rising up, once I performed up for my age, and in highschool, once I was a freshman and once I was a freshman in faculty, I wasn’t going to be on the court docket if I turned the ball over,” he stated. “So my job at first was to run the offense, don’t flip it over, and solely take open photographs. So I discovered find out how to grasp that.”
Payton Pritchard has additionally been deadly within the midrange
A giant a part of Pritchard’s on-court success this season has been his potential to attain the ball contained in the arc. Although he’s capturing 33.5% from three — far under final 12 months’s — he’s hitting 58.2% of two-point makes an attempt.
Pritchard has shouldered a ton of duty within the Celtics’ offense; he’s averaged 16.9 factors (third most on the staff) and 5.2 assists (second-most behind solely Derrick White).
“We’ve leaned on Payton to nearly be a go-to man at occasions, as a result of he has that potential to interrupt guys down, get into the ache, use his physique nicely — and he’s getting higher,” stated Jaylen Brown. “I feel he’s been in my bag for positive, my midrange bag.”
Pritchard has been significantly deadly from the non-restricted space paint photographs; among the many 142 gamers who’ve tried greater than 50 photographs from that zone, Pritchard has been the one best participant. He’s hit 63.6% of paint jumpers on 118 makes an attempt, even beating Nikola Jokic’s elite 62.1%, per NBA.com.
“It doesn’t actually matter how tall you might be, in case you have nice footwork, nice steadiness, and you understand how to make use of your leverage, and Payton has taken benefit of a number of conditions,” Brown stated. “We’d like him to do this. He’s one of many guys on our staff who’s able to that. So anytime I’m on the ground with him, and I see he has a positive matchup, or I see he’s obtained it going, I’m trying to sort of get him the ball just a little bit to get him going.”
All of it’s nonetheless a work-in-progress. Almost each time he addresses the media, Pritchard factors on the market’s a number of basketball left to be performed this season — and much more room for development, significantly on condition that it’s his first 12 months because the staff’s start line guard.
“To be sincere, I don’t even know if I figured it out absolutely but — it’s nonetheless a studying course of,” he stated. “Each recreation, we’ll simply continue to grow and rising. What number of video games [in] are we? 37? It looks like I’ve gotten higher from the start of the 12 months. However, nonetheless extra steps to go.”
