Payton Pritchard explained why he doesn’t chase triple-doubles
"You want to get it naturally, in the flow of the game."
Payton Pritchard is in the middle of the race for the NBA’s Sixth Man of the Year award, and statistical accomplishments can only help his case.
He finished just two rebounds shy of his second-career triple-double Friday night. He had 18 points, 10 assists, and eight rebounds.
Pritchard was in decent position for a potential ninth rebound with 5:36 to go in the fourth quarter. Indiana’s James Johnson fired up a 3-point shot from the top of the key, and Pritchard was standing in the paint as it clanged off the back of the rim.
Pritchard was on one side of the basket, and 6-foot-6 forward Jordan Walsh was on the other. The taller, younger Walsh sprung for the rebound and grabbed it.
After the game, Pritchard said he knew how close he was to the triple-double and explained why he didn’t mind Walsh grabbing the board. It wasn’t that he didn’t want the triple-double. It’s just that he didn’t believe in chasing stats solely for the purpose of pulling off the feat.
“I didn’t let him know, but after hearing the fans reactions and it’s very easy to see up at the scoreboard — you can hear the gasps,” Pritchard said. “But, I’ve said this before, I don’t want to chase it because it doesn’t feel like a real accomplishment. You want to get it naturally, in the flow of the game. Hopefully I’ll get another opportunity and get it then.”
What came more naturally for Pritchard was his promotion of teammate Jaylen Brown’s defense. Brown had scored a season-high 44 points in the game, but he also made four steals.
Pritchard chimed in with praise, unprompted, after Brown had finished answering a question about the steals.
“To be honest, what he is capable of doing at his size, you don’t see many people picking up full-court like that guarding the best guards in the world,” Pritchard said. “Usually, somebody his size would be guarding a wing but he’s picking up the best point guards in the world full-court and then scoring 25 (points), people really don’t understand how difficult that really is.”
“They overestimate what that takes,” he added. “He definitely should be in the all-defensive team category because we give him the hardest assignments. It’s an exhausting thing and he’s creating havoc and making things tough every night. They definitely need to take notice.”
Pritchard nodded his head as he finished his comments, and Brown turned to him with a wide grin.
“Man, appreciate you brother,” Brown said, as the pair slapped hands.
Earlier in the conversation, Brown and Pritchard were asked about their goals for the New Year. Brown said his two goals were to continue to his leadership role on defense and to keep empowering teammates like Pritchard.
“Just coming out, making sure that our guys are ready to go,” Brown said. “Empowering guys, continuing to feed confidence into our team. I think we’re only as strong as each link. So, empowering guys to continue their great play.”
“It would mean a lot for the team to help Payton get Sixth Man of the Year,” he added. “So, just continuing to empower everybody on our team, giving them confidence, and kind of lead us on defense as well, picking up guys full-court, whatever I’ve got to do, getting steals, being active. When our team is at it’s best, our guys are fully empowered and flying around on defense.”
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