Payton Pritchard isn’t discouraged by his shooting slump. Instead, he’s finding a new “bread and butter”

Payton Pritchard hasn’t fairly appeared like himself recently, and that’s OK.

The reigning NBA Sixth Man of the Yr, poised to make his newest profession leap with elevated duty as one of many top-3 premier scorers within the 2025-26 Celtics lineup, hasn’t been capable of depend on his biggest offensive energy: his 3-point shot.

Pritchard entered Wednesday night time’s sport towards the Wizards taking pictures a career-low 21.3% from past the arc by means of his first eight video games of the season. The stoop even took an early-season toll on the retooled Celtics, whose offense struggled to search out rhythm and consistency, resulting in back-to-back losses to the Rockets and Jazz to start a three-game homestand.

That left the undersized guard with no selection however to search out new methods to provide and keep impactful.

“Clearly, with me not taking pictures the three ball as properly to begin the yr as effectively as I would love,” Pritchard mentioned after Boston’s 136-107 blowout win over Washington at TD Backyard. “Clearly, that may come, however I do know attending to the paint may be simpler seems to be and may be my bread and butter. It’s a mixture of utilizing my physique and in addition, with my deal with, with the ability to management it — bump, change route off of it, after which get to a spot.”

Lately, Pritchard has included rigorous one-on-one drills into his offseason routine. He usually goes the additional mile, paying professionals and faculty prospects to assist him simulate real-game conditions designed to power him to attain throughout the limitations of his 6-foot-1, 194-pound body and with out counting on the 3-point line as a security web.

After the Celtics fell to the Warmth within the 2023 Jap Convention Finals, Pritchard reached out to 6-foot-9 ahead Brooks DeBisschop, then enjoying professionally in Europe, to work out simply days after Boston’s elimination. The classes pushed Pritchard to demand the most effective from DeBisschop defensively whereas increasing his personal offensive arsenal — and it paid off. Over the subsequent two seasons, Pritchard averaged a career-high 9.6 factors, then topped that with 14.3 factors throughout Boston’s championship run and repeat bid, elevating his worth and incomes better belief throughout the group.

It’s now change into part of Pritchard’s behind-the-scenes preparation, completely.

“I’ve educated so many hours that now it’s so instinctual,” he defined. “I’m simply discovering it could possibly be a foul, it could possibly be a gap. I don’t even suppose after I’m doing a transfer, it simply occurs so naturally.”

Pritchard performed a key position in getting the Celtics again within the win column Wednesday night time towards a struggling Washington workforce that ranks twenty ninth within the league in defensive score (121.4). He scored 18 factors on 7-of-12 taking pictures, tallied two rebounds and 5 assists, and logged a season-high +36 in 24 minutes. Pritchard used his quickness to dribble round 6-foot-5 guard Tre Johnson for straightforward layup alternatives and drew defenders into the paint, creating open seems to be for Jordan Walsh and Sam Hauser within the third quarter.

The method of leaning on his offseason work when the 3-pointer isn’t falling has paid dividends for the Celtics in different methods. Pritchard is averaging a workforce and career-high 5.2 assists per sport this season, constantly involving teammates to maintain the offense flowing, even when he’s out of sync. When defenders lure him, he defers; when he sneaks inside and finds a gap, he makes even taller, extra bodily imposing defenders look silly by scoring in harder methods.

“I feel he’s at all times had that,” Celtics head coach Joe Mazzulla mentioned. “He’s at all times been a three-level scorer and performed with good tempo. I feel it’s one thing that he’s at all times had.”

Pritchard actually turned extra aggressive in looking for methods to attain inside final season. This yr, he has taken it a step additional, doubling his 2-point makes an attempt from 3.0 per sport final season to six.1 and changing them at a career-high 67.3%. With the velocity, ball management, and basketball IQ required for a vertically challenged guard to assault the basket, Pritchard is showcasing this talent extra prominently than at any level in his profession.

That each one got here collectively throughout Boston’s homestand-ending win, though Pritchard wouldn’t take into account the efficiency worthy of an A-plus by his personal requirements.

He dedicated two turnovers, which he described as “unhealthy,” however promised he wouldn’t dwell on them lengthy sufficient for them to have an effect on him.

“I really like basketball an excessive amount of to get unfavorable,” Pritchard mentioned. “I wanna are available and play and present it. In order that’s the place my thoughts was at — simply be prepared.”

It’s simple to think about that after the 3-pointer begins to fall for Pritchard, it’ll unlock a model of the Oregon product the Celtics haven’t seen earlier than.