Boston Celtics guard Payton Pritchard took dwelling the Sixth Man of the 12 months Award, the NBA introduced on Tuesday.
Pritchard received the award in a landslide victory, receiving 82 out of 100 first-place votes. Pritchard completed with 454 whole 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 had been the one different gamers to obtain first-place votes.
The Oregon product’s fifth season with the Celtics has been one of the best of his profession. Pritchard appeared in 80 video games, primarily coming off the bench to offer on the spot offense.
Regardless of coming off the bench, Pritchard nonetheless logs 28.4 minutes per recreation and has seen his shot quantity and effectivity improve. He has been taking pictures near 11 pictures per recreation, pulling down these makes an attempt at a 47.2% clip, the very best subject aim proportion of his profession, and has additionally been lights out from deep, taking pictures 40.7% from past the arc. Together with his elevated shot quantity and position inside Joe Mazzulla’s offense, Pritchard averaged 14.3 factors per recreation, the very best of his profession and a near-five-point improve from final season.
Earlier this season, in an interview with SLAM, Pritchard talked about his mindset and mentality by way of his recreation. He mentioned his mindset was: “Don’t assume, simply shoot.” For Pritchard, meaning for any shot, from half-court buzzer beaters to pull-up triples. It doesn’t matter the issue, the person will get his buckets regardless of the circumstances.
Particularly on March 5 in a recreation 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 taking pictures evening. That additionally included draining 10 triples and posting a double-double, crashing the glass arduous for 10 boards.
Nights like these aren’t unusual for Pritchard, and with the Celtics decided to go back-to-back, count on the Sixth Man of the 12 months to proceed handing over scoring outbursts off the bench when it issues most.
