Payton Pritchard Scoffs at Celtics' Latest Challenge: 'Should Never be a Problem'

Rob Greene | 7 Hours Ago

May 13, 2024; Cleveland, Ohio, USA; Boston Celtics guard Payton Pritchard (11) celebrates his three-point basket in the third quarter of game four of the second round for the 2024 NBA playoffs against the Cleveland Cavaliers at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse. Mandatory Credit: David Richard-Imagn Images / David Richard-Imagn Images

The defending champion Boston Celtics went to 2-0 in the early season after defeating the Washington Wizards on the road, 122-102.

The Wizards struck early, thanks to Jordan Poole’s glimpses of a bounce-back season with 17 first quarter points on 5-6 from three. Washington was up eight towards the end of the first, the game was even tied until four minutes to go in the first half.

Then the juggernaut Celtics came to play, who went on a 43-19 run going into the fourth quarter, quickly getting up 30 like they have been so accustomed to. They made 17 triples after an NBA record 29 on Opening Night.

Jayson Tatum continued his post-Olympic revenge tour to begin the season still in MVP-caliber form with 25 points, 11 rebounds, and 6 assists, while Birthday boy Jaylen Brown also had himself an outing as well. The Finals MVP put up 27 points, eight rebounds, three assists, and four steals on 10-20 from the field as a plus-22. He and Tatum both outscored the Wizards starters by one point. In fact, Poole finished with six threes and the rest of the team had just one (7-36).

Derrick White continued his incredible all-around play as one of the most fun players to watch and best two-way players in the game, with 19 points, four assists, four rebounds, and four threes as a plus-33. He has been scorching from three in the first two games making 10 of 17. Neemias Queta even made provided energy in his 13 minutes off the bench with 12 points, seven rebounds on 5-7 shooting. He held opponents to 4-10 shooting, and Queta’s play on the glass was relentless for a great sign moving forward for him in the rotation this season.

Who also showed great signs as a huge piece this season was Payton Pritchard, who went off after a slow opener shooting the ball badly. He responded with 15 of his own on 5-10 from three. Pritchard banked in another Finals-resemblance shot at the end of the third, where he was beyond half court near the bench and heaved one. You just had a feeling it was going knowing how elite Pritchard is now known for being at those. Though, the shot was late after the buzzer and didn’t count.

Pritchard talked about maintaining the same energy and focus that Boston had on Banner night after finally getting their rings.

Payton Pritchard on playing with the same energy and focus the Celtics had at home on opening night after receiving their championship rings:

"That should never be a problem, especially with our group. We love to play basketball. So, there could be nobody in the gym and we'd… pic.twitter.com/dRDtqfLEiR

— Bobby Krivitsky (@BobbyKrivitsky) October 25, 2024

“That should never be a problem, especially with our group,” said Pritchard. “We love to play basketball, so, there could be nobody in the gym and we’d wanna hoop. I mean that’s the mindset I take at least, and I feel like everybody in here just wants to play ball, so it should never be a problem.”

The Celtics guard further discussed the key to keeping that same energy from the way they came out to open the new season Tuesday, detaching themselves from their championship past.

“Just coming in ready to compete,” Pritchard added. “We go into practice and play five-on-five and all play hard and no one’s there watching, so even if it’s an empty we’re gonna come in and play hard.”

Boston is showing they are approaching the 2017 Warriors level of just dominating teams and starting blowouts, going up 30-plus in the blink of an eye. The group looks even scarier than last year and doesn’t even have Kristaps Porzingis yet. The train will look to keep moving in that direction Saturday night in Detroit against the Pistons.