Destroying the young Bulls, 134-99 at home, is nothing out of the ordinary for the Celtics. They are used to blowing out bad teams and running up the score with their deep bench. Frankly, any other result would have been disappointing and a little concerning. But there was a key moment in Monday night’s game that could give us a taste of what the future can hold.
Just a few minutes into the third quarter, Jayson Tatum picked up two quick fouls, giving him four for the game. Joe Mazzulla chose to break his usual substitution patterns and pull JT with 7:15 left in the frame and Boston leading, 74-64.
In the first half, when Tatum sat, the Bulls went on a run and got back in the game, and non-Tatum minutes have obviously been a frequent problem for Boston in the past. But in the third quarter, something different happened. Payton Pritchard took over.
Paul George, Neemias Queta, Jordan Walsh, Hugo Gonzalez, and others chipped in, but it was Pritchard who completely caught fire, scoring 19 points in the quarter on 7/8 shooting and a perfect 5/5 from three-point range. He got the Celtics going once Tatum hit the bench, and they never looked back, finishing the quarter on a 31-11 run after Tatum hit the bench.
If Celtics can win the non-Tatum minutes, they'll be tough to beat
Nobody is expecting the Celtics to dominate with Tatum on the bench every night, and nobody is expecting every opponent to be as incompetent as the Bulls were for stretches of the game. But if Boston can find a way to compete, or even win the minutes when Tatum is on the bench, they are going to have a great chance of winning every single game they play.
Tatum has been a net rating cheat code since entering the league, and the Celtics almost always win the minutes when he is on the court. But like a lot of star players, when Tatum sits, it’s hard to maintain that edge. Even staggering his minutes with Jaylen Brown, the team would usually fall off a cliff in the past without JT.
Now again, this is just one game and a very small sample size, but there’s a chance that Boston has found something with Pritchard and PG leading the second unit while Tatum sits. This is what they need out of Payton, more than anything. He’s going to play a lot with JT, and the two always shine together, but they need him to take the reins while Tatum is on the bench and run the show.
Doing it against the Bulls on a random Monday night in October is one thing; making this a reliable option come playoff time is quite another. We’re a long way from that, but it’s great to see these habits being built early in the year. Hopefully, this is something to build on, and Payton can get even more confident in leading the charge while the Celtics’ best player gets a rest.
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