Payton Pritchard is at the Celtics bench when Allen Iverson taps him on the shoulder during Game 3 of the first-round playoff series against the Philadelphia 76ers. Boston leads 103-98 with just over a minute left, and Pritchard has already hit five 3-pointers. Iverson tells him he is the coldest white boy he has ever seen, and Pritchard's competitive fire ignites.
The numbers back up the swagger. Pritchard posted a 58.6% effective field goal percentage on isolation plays last season, the best in the NBA, ahead of Nikola Jokic (57.1%), Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (56.4%) and Luka Doncic (55.8%). At the midpoint of the 2025-26 season he averaged 1.30 points per iso possession, and he finished the year at 1.11 PPP, still third in the league according to NBA.com.
He saved his biggest moments for Game 4, two days later. He hit a one-legged, buzzer-beating 3 at the end of the first quarter and scored 18 points in the first half, more than the starting five combined. He finished with a game and playoff career-high 32 points. Pritchard does this as a bench player, two seasons removed from winning Sixth Man of the Year. He also started 50 games last season after Jrue Holiday was traded to Portland and Jayson Tatum tore his Achilles.
Celtics assistant coach Sam Cassell summed up Pritchard's stature with a joke: "He's 6-1 soaking wet." Pritchard's game is built on relentless offseason work, and his grinding summer practices are the edge Boston will need as it chases another playoff run.
Source: ESPN NBA · Summarized by HeadlinesBriefing