The Boston Celtics have turned a surprisingly strong season without Jayson Tatum into a dominant campaign. They've won 10 of their past 12 games, are 39-20 overall, and with a 54-win pace established, are the No. 2 seed in the Eastern Conference.
Though many players have excelled, the individual whose surge in quality is most responsible for the Celtics' recent elevation is star guard Payton Pritchard.
Pritchard, the reigning Sixth Man of the Year, has been inching toward star status throughout the 2025-26 season. He's been asked to take on a larger role than he did a season ago and inevitably experienced some degree of growing pains along the way.
What the past 12 games have proven, however, is that the Celtics can reach truly elite levels of play when Pritchard is living up to his potential—and featured appropriately.
As a team, the Celtics rank No. 1 in defensive rating, No. 6 in offensive rating, and No. 2 in net rating over the past 12 games. Only the San Antonio Spurs, which have gone 11-1 during that time, have posted a better net rating.
Individually, Pritchard has proven that Jaylen Brown has the co-star that critics and fans both thought he'd be without as Tatum recovers from what was thought to be a season-ending injury.
Payton Pritchard has made a leap, taking Celtics to new level
Pritchard and Derrick White are the only two Celtics who have averaged at least 30.0 minutes while playing in each of Boston's past 12 games. During that time, Pritchard has averaged 19.5 points, 5.9 assists, 3.2 rebounds, 0.8 steals, and 3.2 three-point field goals made per game.
Prictchard ranks No. 1 on the Celtics in assists and three-point field goals made, and No. 2 in points during the Celtics' remarkable 10-2 run.
In addition to producing with All-Star level volume, Pritchard is shooting the lights out. He's turned in a slash line of .521/.469/.909 and has peaked with five three-point field goals made in a win over the Houston Rockets and six in a victory against the Los Angeles Lakers.
It's no coincidence that Boston's only two losses were two of the only three games during which Pritchard attempted fewer than 10 shots over the past 12 outings.
Celtics are 21-4 when Payton Pritchard attempts 15+ shots
Furthermore, the Celtics have improved to 11-1 when Pritchard converts at least 10 field goals and 21-4 when he attempts a minimum of 15. That certainly seems to provide a fair guideline for how Boston's offense should be operating.
To put it simply: The more involved Pritchard is on the offensive end of the floor, the better the Celtics are. That's rearing its head in a dominant way over the past 12 games.
Moving forward, the Celtics can't realistically expect Pritchard to maintain a level of efficiency that even Stephen Curry would be proud of. What they can do, however, is empower their sharpshooting playmaker to become more involved on offense to the point of consistently hitting that magic number of 15 shots.
If Joe Mazzulla and the Celtics pull that off, then the numbers suggest that Pritchard will help them continue to dominate as the postseason nears.