Payton Pritchard Gets Real On Importance Of His Buzzer-Beater Heroics
· Yahoo Sports
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The Boston Celtics picked up another important victory on Friday night, as they handed the Atlanta Hawks a 109-102 defeat. With Jaylen Brown missing this game, it was Payton Pritchard who stepped up and led the Celtics to victory.
Pritchard has emerged as a lethal scoring threat for Boston this season, and that continued against Atlanta, as he led all scorers with 36 points. Along the way, Pritchard hit another one of his patented buzzer-beater shots, and after the game, he took a second to explain why these plays are so important to him.
"It's a momentum play, and the crowd feels it. Our team feels it," Pritchard said. "I feel like it's crucial because ending a quarter or a half and then going into the next possession, you get that energy and that momentum swing."
It's telling that, on a team featuring the likes of Brown, Jayson Tatum and Derrick White, Pritchard is the guy getting the ball in these last-second situations. That's because, more often than not, he manages to find the bottom of the bucket and put points on the board for his team.
Even with Tatum's return, Pritchard has remained a crucial part of the offense, and considering how he's averaging a career-high 16.9 points per game, that likely isn't going to change anytime soon. Boston will face another tough challenge when it returns to action on Sunday, as it will square off against a streaking Charlotte Hornets squad.
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