Boston Celtics guard Payton Pritchard took dwelling the Sixth Man of the 12 months Award, the NBA introduced on Tuesday.
Pritchard gained the award in a landslide victory, receiving 82 out of 100 first-place votes. Pritchard completed with 454 complete factors, 175 factors forward of Detroit Pistons guard Malik Beasley, who completed second with 279 factors.
Beasley, Ty Jerome, De’Andre Hunter and Naz Reid have been the one different gamers to obtain first-place votes.
The Oregon product’s fifth season with the Celtics has been the most effective of his profession. Pritchard appeared in 80 video games, primarily coming off the bench to supply on the spot offense.
Regardless of coming off the bench, Pritchard nonetheless logs 28.4 minutes per sport and has seen his shot quantity and effectivity enhance. He has been capturing near 11 pictures per sport, pulling down these makes an attempt at a 47.2% clip, the best subject objective proportion of his profession, and has additionally been lights out from deep, capturing 40.7% from past the arc. Along with his elevated shot quantity and position inside Joe Mazzulla’s offense, Pritchard averaged 14.3 factors per sport, the best of his profession and a near-five-point enhance from final season.
Earlier this season, in an interview with SLAM, Pritchard talked about his mindset and mentality when it comes to his sport. He stated his mindset was: “Don’t suppose, simply shoot.” For Pritchard, which means for any shot, from half-court buzzer beaters to pull-up triples. It doesn’t matter the issue, the person will get his buckets irrespective of the circumstances.
Particularly on March 5 in a sport in opposition to the Portland Path Blazers. In a dogfight with the Cavaliers for the highest seed within the East, a short-handed Celtics staff squared off in opposition to the Portland Path Blazers. With out Jayson Tatum and Kristaps Porzingis, Pritchard performed practically 43 minutes off the bench and dropped a career-high 43 factors on a 14-20 capturing evening. That additionally included draining 10 triples and posting a double-double, crashing the glass laborious for 10 boards.
Nights like these aren’t unusual for Pritchard, and with the Celtics decided to go back-to-back, anticipate the Sixth Man of the 12 months to proceed handing over scoring outbursts off the bench when it issues most.
