Payton Pritchhard's dream meets the moment in Game 3 victory of Celtics in Celtics

New York – Two years ago, Payton Pritchhard studied the stars on the opposite side, while the Celtics were on the way to the Eastern Conference.

Pritchhard made mental notes about how Trae Young operated during a series in the first round. He watched James Harden weared Boston during his bigger games. Pritchard also watched the stars in his team and learned as much as possible about how the best players in the league affect Playoff games, but he found inspiration in the way in which Young and hard victories made against the Celtics.

Pritchhard recognized how difficult it was to win a team during the playoffs. He wanted to earn the types of responsibilities that they had from the Boston rotation at the time. He wanted to beat such players like this.

“I didn't want to watch,” said Pritchard. “I wanted to compete against her. That only made me being in this position one day.”

Of course, the Celtics would have preferred to take part in the second round on Saturday. But for Pritchhard the moment was once a dream. After building himself up in the sixth man of the year, he now has the opportunity to change games in a way that he could only imagine before. In a desperate place for the Celtics, he scored 23 points with playoff career meters to lead them to an 115-93 game with 115: 93.

“Pritchhard was huge,” said Jaylen Brown. “Pritchhard was great.”

On the street, Pritchard delivered in a game that the Celtics urgently needed, in the type of position that he had wished for so long. For this purpose, he had to take the pressure on the Celtics after dropping their first two games at home. If he had enlarged a second or two, he might have recognized that a child had asked for the opportunity to receive the Boston players on Saturday. In Madison Square Garden, one of the most popular venues in Pritchard. In order to silence a New York audience who had been waiting for such a good chance for 25 years to reach the Eastern Conference final. To save Celtics' hopes for a double championship from stars like Fat Joe, Ben Stiller and Timothée Chalamet.

“As a competitor, you don't want to be in any other position,” said Pritchard. “This is the best moment in which you can be 2-0, back against the wall. They just bring it.”

The Celtics had no other choice. After all the conversation about their choice of firing at the beginning of the series, they wanted to ignore all the external talks and simply play their regular game. After the training on Thursday, Jayson said that he believed that his team had passed some open shots during a loss of Game 2. Make or Miss, he didn't want the Celtics to stop taking away when they were open.

In more than 34 minutes, also a playoff career high, Pritchard channeled the freedom with which the Celtics wanted to play as a team. Kristapaps Porziņģis saw a strong excursion for Pritchard when the guard for a pull-up 3 pointer set up in the first quarter with about four minutes. The shot was Boston's only 3-point misconception in seven attempts in the first quarter, but the result disturbed Porzi. He noticed how Pritchard was looking for his own offensive in the transition. Porzi ņģis loved the boldness that was necessary to start such a long attempt out of the jump so early in the shooting clock.

“He is a guy who always wants to play really well,” said Porzi. “He is almost too hard on himself. So he has to play with this freedom. If he plays with this freedom not to worry, he plays his best. And I think he was only out there tonight to shoot the transition 3s.

Pritchhard scored at least 20 points this season in 24 games of the regular season, but had never reached this brand in a playoff game before Saturday. After he was immersed in 6:35 in the first quarter for the first time, he was effective enough to play the rest of half.

Pritchhard's second 3-point attempt fell. Minutes later, he ended the first quarter with a Fadaway jumper over a double team from Mitchell Robinson and Deice McBride. The basket brought the Celtics a lead of 36 to 20.

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During the entire second quarter, Pritchard scored six more points to give him 13 for the first half. Like the rest of his team, he wanted to play with a carefree spirit.

“We saw areas in which we could tidy up a little, but it was really only more confident and let it fly,” said Pritchhard. “Don't look a good shot.

Pritchhard rarely lacks trust. The self -confidence carried him to the NBA when many people doubted that he would ever do it. It made it possible for him to hold out of minimal playing time at the beginning of his career. It made him strive for a greater role after his minutes in the NBA final were desolate last season. He works as hard as everyone else and trusts that all of his hours in the gym will pay off on the pitch.

But Playoff games bear strong stress. After the loss of game 1, Pritchard game 2 described as a must. The Celtics dropped that too. They knew that the missions in game 3 were even higher, which would be played in front of an urgent Madison Square Garden audience. Knicks fans, who have not reached the Eastern Conference final since 2000, could not even remain calm during the national anthem. Calls from “Let's Go Knicks” could be heard in the entire arena.

With a quick start and the unwillingness to reduce, the Celtics robbed the energy out of the building. Tatum jumped back from a rough game 2 with 22 points, nine rebounds and seven templates. Brown (19 points), Derrick White (17) and Al Horford (15) achieved in two figures in a balanced attack in Boston. Pritchard wore her with the daring mentality that made it possible for him to become the best bank player in the league this season. He made five 3 points while he took eight of his 16 field attempts.

“I always have to maintain my aggressiveness what I get,” said Pritchard. “I attack the color, I will obviously always hunt the 3 ball, but I thought I had done a good job, sometimes to get into the color. To get a piece. For me, it is only a matter of getting energy in when I get a rebound, get an assist, get a stop, make a big shot, be ready for everything.”

Brown thought that Pritchard treated the physicality of the Knicks well.

“You have some big guards,” said Brown. “Wings that like to load onto the ball. The level of physicality is higher. So you have to be able to take these passports and take these recordings and take these games. Payton did a great job this evening.”

Because as often as Pritchard broke out in the regular season, he had never been presented in a playoff environment. Porziis went over in the changing room in Boston to shake his teammate's hand and congratulate him on his impressive excursion. Still 2-1, the Celtics could later need more big games from Pritchard in the series. Porzi believes that they will come.

“I expect this from him,” said Porzi. “Because he now has the experience. He felt the tension that doesn't really help them. As soon as he has this freedom in mind, the game only comes to him.”

(Toptoto: Wendell Cruz / Imagn Images)