Boston Celtics

Celtics’ Payton Pritchard still has ‘mental hesitations,’ not 100 percent after knee injury

Pritchard missed six games with a knee sprain.

Payton Pritchard
Payton Pritchard's knee still isn't 100 percent. AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez

By Tom Westerholm

2 minutes to read

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Boston Celtics rookie Payton Pritchard missed six games after suffering a scary sprained knee in January — a positive result, given how severe the injury initially looked.

Still, a sprained knee isn’t a joke. Pritchard has played two games since his return, and he told reporters on Tuesday he still isn’t fully confident.

“Definitely some mental hesitations. I don’t know, it’s still getting there,” Pritchard said. “I wouldn’t say 100 percent just yet, but coming back from injury, you’re kind of hesitant to do certain moves or shoot it at the rim. But I think each day I’m getting better, and I’m close to 100.”

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Brad Stevens noticed Pritchard’s hesitance. After Sunday’s game, Stevens praised Pritchard’s aggressiveness in the second half but said he’d like to see more in the first.

“That’s two games in a row where — now coming back from the knee — I thought he looked tentative in the first,” Stevens said. “We need him to play with that kind of assertiveness and aggressiveness when he checks into the game.”

Pritchard took Stevens’ criticism to heart.

“I just think it tells me is that when I step on the court, I have to be in attack mode,” Pritchard said. “That doesn’t mean shoot it every time, but be aggressive at both ends of the floor, getting into people on defense. When my shot’s there, take it, and when I drive it, get a teammate open.”

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Pritchard has been impressive in his first 16 games, averaging 8.0 points, 2.5 rebounds, and 2.4 assists while shooting 49.5/44.2/90.0 percent splits from the floor. Defensively, he pesters opposing point guards all the way up the floor.

“I think just going forward, I need to come in with a fire and be willing to just go make plays,” Pritchard said. “And it’s okay to make mistakes, and just play the game with an aggression. The biggest thing I’ve learned is when you step on the floor in an NBA game, you’ve got to be ready on both ends of the floor at all times because everybody’s a threat and you just need to go out there and put everything on the line.”

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