Payton Pritchard has been balling, but he says the best is yet to come

Payton Pritchard took the floor on Sunday alongside Jaylen Brown to take on LeBron James, Luka Doncic, and the Los Angeles Lakers. In a star-studded atmosphere, he was the best player on the court.

The reigning NBA Sixth Man of the Year missed just four shots en route to a 30-point performance in Los Angeles. No one wearing white, purple, and gold had any answer for him all afternoon.

He sent Jared Vanderbilt crashing to the hardwood with an ankle-breaking stepback midway through the second quarter, then had Doncic tapdancing on multiple possessions.

“Me and Payton share the same mentality, dog,” Jaylen Brown praised. “When I see him, and he's got that, you just get the hell out the way.”

Payton Pritchard embraced the Celtics-Lakers rivalry

Though getting buckets in isolation situations has become the norm for the former Oregon standout, as he’s the leading isolation scorer in the league at 1.3 points per possession, he was extra fired up at Crypto.com Arena.

Pritchard shouted at the crowd, celebrated with his teammates, and even tried to fire up Hall-of-Famer Reggie Miller after a stepback triple over Austin Reaves. The 28-year-old made it clear that he and Miller have a great relationship and there was no mal-intent as he barked towards the announcer’s table where Miller sat on commentary.

“I think it's just the rivalry,” Pritchard told reporters in the Celtics’ locker room. “Felt like I'm back in my like, college days when I was playing Washington or Arizona or something, just rivalry will bring out of you.”

Pritchard has a lengthy history of getting up for rivalry games. Most notably, Oregon fans will remember his massive performance against Washington, which he capped off with a long-range game-winner.

Pritchard continues to be incredible off the bench for Boston

After their comfortable victory over the rival Lakers, the Celtics are now winners of eight of their last 10 games. Pritchard’s recent hot-streak has played a huge role in that. He’s taken on a move back to the bench with grace, to say the very least.

In seven games as a reserve, he’s 23.6 points, 6.3 assists, and 3.6 rebounds per outing on an efficient 54.5% from the field and 44.6% from beyond the arc. He’s been dominant.

Over the past few weeks, he’s been clear that it makes no difference to him whether he starts or comes off the bench -- it’s still the same process of reading the defense and making the right plays.

“Just reading, reacting, seeing which way their hips are turning, the feet where I can get separation,” he explained. “I try to, pride myself on being able to score in a variety of ways from all three levels, and just making reads off that. If I can get by [my defender] and a guy comes over to the rim, then I make one read.” 

After Thursday’s win over the Golden State Warriors, he pointed out that he’s able to more easily get in a rhythm because his minutes come in longer bursts.

“The starting thing is kinda pointless, cause, like, in a way, I probably play more minutes,” Pritchard said in San Francisco. “I actually would rather play longer stints like that.”

Whether it’s the longer stints, or he’s just in a rhythm, something has clearly clicked for No. 11. If you ask him, he’s still got plenty of room to grow but has no doubt he’s going to get to that next level.

“I'm still evolving, [there’s] another step I can get to. So just gonna keep working, and I'm gonna get to it.”