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Jayson Tatum Campaigns for Celtics' Payton Pritchard to Win NBA Award After Dominant Game

Pritchard had another big night off the bench in Boston's win over Philadelphia.

Madison Williams

Boston Celtics guard Payton Pritchard drives against Philadelphia 76ers guard Quentin Grimes.
Boston Celtics guard Payton Pritchard drives against Philadelphia 76ers guard Quentin Grimes. / Bill Streicher-Imagn Images
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Payton Pritchard came off the bench in the Boston Celtics' 124-104 win over the Philadelphia 76ers on Thursday night and absolutely dominated.

Pritchard led the Celtics with 28 points—on eight three-pointers—to go along with four assists in 31 minutes (the second most behind Jayson Tatum). It was just another night in the office for Pritchard, who is currently leading the NBA in bench points and threes.

Tatum was so impressed with Pritchard's performance on Thursday that he began a campaign for Pritchard to win the NBA Sixth Man of the Year.

"He's unbelievable," Tatum said after the game. "What he brings to this team on a given night, especially off the bench. We got a few weeks left, but he got to be Sixth Man of the Year."

In his fifth season with the Celtics, Pritchard is averaging a career-high 13.8 points, 3.9 rebounds and 3.5 assists in an average of 27.9 minutes per game.

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Madison Williams
MADISON WILLIAMS

Madison Williams is a staff writer on the Breaking and Trending News team at Sports Illustrated, where she specializes in tennis but covers a wide range of sports from a national perspective. Before joining SI in 2022, Williams worked at The Sporting News. Having graduated from Augustana College, she completed a master’s in sports media at Northwestern University. She is a dog mom and an avid reader.

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