On a tired Toronto winter night, the Celtics tipped off against the Raptors without their homegrown MVP candidate, Jayson Tatum. While most teams might be ill prepared without their go to guy, the Celtics were far from that result last night.
While the Celtics might be many things this year, what they are definitely not is ill-equipped with rotation and players who come off the bench. With Tatum out resting, the team turned to the "Jay's" other half Jaylen Brown, who certainly did not disappoint. However, his top notch performance has come to be expected of him. The real heroes of last night were Grant Williams and Payton Pritchard.
Unfortunately for the Celtics, going into the second half they were down both Marcus Smart and Rob Williams. Both suffered an apparent injury during the first half. This could only mean one thing for the second unit of the Celtics, put up or shut up. In the last several games, Joe Mazzulla has been awarding minutes to Payton Pritchard in lieu of Sam Hauser. This has been working well for the Celtics rotation as they continue to roll through their opponents. Last night was no different rotation wise, but Pritchard's big moments didn't come until late in the game.
Ever since Pritchard has hit the floor with the Celtics three years ago, he has shown he has the clutch gene in his DNA. Last night he further proved that he's a true professional and is always ready when Coach Joe calls his number. With the game on the line in the 4th quarter, Pritchard nailed four, three point shots, tallying all 12 of his points in the final minutes of the game. His fourth made three came when the game was tied 103 a piece which put the Celtics up by 3 points with 1:30 to play. After this, he later grabbed yet another impactful offensive rebound to help seal the games fate.
With trade rumors running rampant in the NBA with the upcoming deadline, you can expect continued stellar performances from players like Payton Pritchard to hopefully avoid being moved for another player.
Payton Pritchard certainly showed his stuff in big moments last night, but he wasn't the only player that came off the bench to have a significant impact. In last night's game, the Celtics bench combined for 62 total points with the starters only notching 44. Having this type of depth and agility coming from your bench is part of the reason this team has been unstoppable this year. Credit to Brad Stevens on building a championship caliber team and enabling meaningful growth over the last two years.
One of the leading and shining stars of last night was Grant Williams. Grant is in a contract year this year and has been showing Brad Stevens and the league just why he's worthy of a big pay day this summer. Grant posted a career high 25 points last night on and efficient 7 of 13 field goals. He also cashed 4 of 6 shots from three point land. He's been a tremendous asset to the Celtics this year, making big shots time and again, while also having excellent defensive performances on star players.
Malcolm Brogdon described the Celtics mentality (above) by explaining that this team is always ready to go when their name is called. It doesn't matter if that person is a starter or the last off the bench in a big moment. Last night was no different, especially from Brogdon, Pritchard and Grant Williams.
LOOKING FORWARD
The Boston Celtics are currently on an impressive nine game win streak, the best in the NBA. The remain the team to beat in both the East and full NBA. They will look to extend their hot streak on Monday night versus the Orlando Magic who have given them trouble this season. Will the streak grow to ten, tune in to find out, until then let's go Celtics!
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