Simone's Six: Payton Pritchard-palooza, a defensive examination, and rebounding in Celtics-Hawks

BOSTON — The Boston Celtics were met with a significant challenge on Friday night. They were buried in buckets by the Atlanta Hawks and quickly faced a 25-9 deficit.

Then, Payton Pritchard turned the game on its head.

Alongside Derrick White’s ball-handling, Pritchard’s isolation scoring absolutely shredded the Hawks. And he didn’t stop in the second quarter.

His 36-point night carried Boston to a comeback win over Atlanta— a squad that had been 14-1 in its prior 15 games.

But what happened along the way?

1. Payton Pritchard master class

It was a clinic. Every dribble. Every drive. Every step-back. Pritchard attacked the Hawks with complete precision and, for the most part, they had no answer for him.

At first, the buckets were simple. Well, as simple as Pritchard’s isolation bag of tricks can possibly be. This was the simplicity the Hawks had to deal with as Boston mounted its early-game comeback.

And as Pritchard found his flow in isolation, the Celtics looked to get him going even more. Atlanta had most of its eyes -- and top defenders -- on Jayson Tatum. That left Pritchard room to work.

Just look at the way the Hawks set up their defense on this play.

Dyson Daniels is guarding Tatum, who is standing in the opposite corner to Pritchard. Jalen Johnson is on White, who is running the pick-and-roll, Onyeka Okongwu is on Neemias Queta, and CJ McCollum is on Sam Hauser.

Boston runs Spain PnR, setting Hauser up to set a back screen on Okongwu, who is guarding Queta (the primary screener). However, as soon as McCollum jumps up to help on White, Hauser makes his move.

He springs up to the wing, forcing Nickeil Alexander-Walkerto help over, leaving Pritchard wide open in the corner. Pritchard was 5-for-5 from three-point range before that shot.

They left that guyopen.

That’s how much pressure Boston’s offense puts on defenses. Pritchard was the beneficiary on Friday night. And he made sure to match that with some incredible isolation play.

But Pritchard did way more than just score the ball. His offensive rebounding efforts helped the Celtics maintain their lead late in the fourth quarter as the Hawks were making a push.

"The two plays," Joe Mazzullasaid. "The offensive rebound that he got, it looked like a defensive boxout, but he got an offensive rebound, and the foul he drew. They were going out in transition on that play, and that could have changed the game a little bit. And he goes in and crashes, and just a big-time play.

"So, the points are one thing, but I thought the ball-handling, handling the pressure, I thought the offensive rebounding. He had another offensive rebound, he had two offensive rebounds, I think, in the second half there, that were huge for us. So, it's just those big-time plays for us. And he's not defined by scoring, so that helps us a lot when he does all those things."

First, there was the offensive rebound. Pritchard boxed out Alexander-Walker so well on this play that he didn’t even have to jump for the board. The ball just fell into his lap.

Then, there was the foul Pritchard drew.

About a minute later, Pritchard was fighting for another rebound. The Hawks grabbed the ball and were about to run in transition, but Pritchard fought so hard for positioning that Alexander-Walker ended up fouling him.

Not only did Pritchard earn the Celtics an extra possession, but he also prevented the Hawks from getting a fast break.

"It's just winning basketball," Pritchard said of his rebounding efforts. "And, yeah, I wanted to win. So, obviously, you want to make a play, and you see somebody shoot the ball, and I see it coming off the rim, and I'm just fighting to try to get in and get an extra possession. Those little things like that can change a game and win a game. So, yeah, it's just about the want. Yeah, competitive spirit."

Pritchard ended the night with 36 points, seven rebounds, and four assists while shooting 13-of-23 from the floor, 6-of-11 from beyond the three-point arc, and 4-of-4 from the charity stripe.

2. Defensive examination

Boston’s defense wasn't always pretty in this game. Atlanta didn’t get out to a 25-9 start for no reason. They were hitting shots, and the Celtics were struggling to keep up.

The Hawks shot 10-of-20 from three-point range in the first half and then just 5-of-22 in the second half. But Mazzulla didn’t see a major defensive change from the Celtics at the break. They made their adjustment early in the game.

So, what was the difference between the first half and the second?

"Shot variance," Mazzulla said matter-of-factly.

In fact, the Celtics actually gave up a ton of quality looks from behind the three-point arc, especially late in the fourth quarter. They allowed offensive rebounds. And earlier in the game, Atlanta capitalized on transition opportunities as Boston’s offense struggled.

"I think I'd like to see the ones that we gave up in transition in the first half, and the ones that we gave up on some of the offensive rebounds," Mazzulla said. "You take a look at the end of the game, I mean, they missed three or four wide-open ones, and we were fighting for the rebound, we didn't get it. They missed it there.

"So, I thought the first five or six minutes, we were just still getting our feet under us, and then I thought we had a different level of physicality to us for about 44 of those minutes. And they're a good team. They're going to generate good shots. They're going to make tough shots. We have to be able to control the ones that we can take away. I thought we did that for the most part.”

But perhaps the biggest defensive issue Boston struggled with was screen navigation. The Celtics didn’t do a good enough job at fighting around screens.

Boston was OK with Johnson shooting threes. He nailed three of them to start the game, but those shots were part of the Celtics’ defensive game plan, to a degree.

However, they should have only been part of the plan if his defender was helping on a drive. Here, Hauser simply doesn’t do a good enough job of getting around Daniels’ screen.

The plan is to go under, to prevent Johnson from driving, but Hauser hesitates. That small hesitation gives Johnson enough time to get off a three that was avoidable.

"Yeah, getting through screens," Mazzulla said. "They got a couple on some off-ball screens that they were able to get there. Fighting through screens, communicating the screen. They got one in front of our bench, too. But just getting through screens. Being communicative, getting through screens, getting around screens, just not getting screened."

This is another example, though the shot didn’t fall.

Jonathan Kuminga doesn’t even stop to set a screen, yet Pritchard still gets caught behind the play. Gabe Vincentmissed, but he still got an open look.

Screen navigation was one source of Boston’s scattered defensive problems on Friday night, and it’s something to keep an eye on moving forward.

3. The Jayson Tatum conundrum

Some of Tatum’s shots on Friday night looked clunky. To be blunt, they took away from the rhythm of Boston’s offense.

He started the game well, sinking two of his first three shots, but as the game went on, he insisted on getting to his spots and rising up, even when it wasn’t working.

Like on this play, Tatum sizes up Johnson, misses a step-back three, and the Hawks draw a foul in transition.

Sprinkling in these shots throughout a game makes some sense, in theory. It keeps the defense honest. They can’t commit to the drive and drop back in coverage. They know Tatum can make shots, it’s just a matter of when.

That said, when the Hawks had been getting out and running in transition, these types of looks may not be the best idea. And Tatum knows his game hasn’t been the prettiest since returning.

"I feel rusty," he said. "Obviously, you probably can see [it] in moments when it doesn't look the same or it looks rusty. But I think just the mindset of, onto the next play. I'm thankful that I got teammates and a coaching staff that is patient with me in this moment as I'm trying to just figure it out."

To open the third, the Celtics found ways to get Tatum open off the ball.

Here, a simple back screen from Hauser was enough to spring Tatum loose. He finished an and-one at the rim against McCollum.

Still, the rust shined through at times, especially when Daniels was checking him.

Tatum’s offensive game is a work in progress. He looked great in the fourth quarter, getting himself to the line (6-of-7) and generating quality looks.

But even he’s still trying to iron out all the kinks.

"I mean, it's all over the place," Tatum said of his rust. "Sometimes, I'll be dribbling the f***ing ball and kind of just like mishandle. Sometimes I still have a ball, but it's just like, 'Damn.' It's frustrating. Obviously, some of the shots, layups at the rim, just kind of moving too fast a little bit. So, I mean, it's frustrating to me."

Tatum finished the game with 26 points, 12 rebounds, and five assists on 8-of-24 shooting from the field, 2-of-8 shooting from deep range, and 8-of-10 from the free-throw line.

4. Offense let Celtics down

During the Hawks’ 25-9 run to open the game, Boston gave up some threes they could have contested a bit better, sure. However, the Celtics’ biggest downfall in the early goings of Friday night was their shot-making.

"I thought our offense was letting us down, and it was putting a ton of pressure on our defense," Mazzulla said. "And so, I thought we missed some shots. I thought we missed some layups."

The Celtics’ offense wasn’t perfect at the start of the night, but they were also missing easy shots. Though they shot 4-of-5 from the restricted area in the first quarter, they shot just 2-of-5 in the rest of the paint.

Shots like these have to go down.

And unfortunately for Boston, the only way out of a situation like that is to make shots. There’s no other way.

"There really isn't one. You got to make shots," Pritchard said. "The game is about putting the ball through the net, and if you're not doing that, then you're not gonna be very good. So, the game is about a bucket, at the end of the day."

5. Rebounding

As the game was wrapping up, the Celtics couldn’t find a dagger. Atlanta had lots of opportunities to bring the score within reach, but Boston kept them at bay with its efforts on the glass.

On the defensive glass, it was Tatum (12 DREBs) and Queta (11 DREBs) leading the way.

And on the other end, it was Pritchard (as previously shown).

Remember that foul Pritchard drew on Alexander-Walker? Well, this was the lead-up to that. Watch Hauser and Queta combine for a great offensive board.

That, combined with Pritchard’s extra effort, made for a very timely end-of-game possession to help keep Boston ahead.

6. Jordan Walsh is back?

After falling out of the rotation entirely for six straight games, Jordan Walsh earned some big-time minutes in Jaylen Brown’s absence on Friday night. And he made the most of them.

Though he only finished the night with five points and three rebounds, he also tallied three blocks, and his defensive impact was clear.

But on top of all that, Walsh just made hustle plays. He did the little things that won’t get noticed, and he did it at a moment’s notice. Like here, look at how awkwardly Walsh catches this ball. Yet he still manages to find Pritchard for a nice cut to the rim.