The Boston Celtics stay ready group, known as reserves on other teams, have been great as of late post All-Star break, but they’ve really been great all season.
Two players who have been big components to the bench unit are Payton Pritchard and Luke Kornet. The two-man game between them has been great all season and it was on display on Sunday evening in Washington.
The play I’m focusing in on was in the second quarter with just under two-minutes left in the first half. Boston had Pritchard, Sam Hauser, Oshae Brissett, Jayson Tatum, and Luke Kornet on the court at this time.
Pritchard brought the ball up the court to the right wing, where he turned back to see where his teammates were so they can run a play and end the half.
This prompted Tatum to direct Kornet over to Pritchard, which brought another defender to that area. Kornet impressively sets a pick for Pritchard with his back towards that following defender, which allows him to freely roll out to the basket and Pritchard set him up perfectly.
Kornet’s positioning freezes the defender that followed him because he’s concerned with the screen Kornet set. The defender is making sure that Pritchard isn’t going to work around it but he loses track of Kornet in the process. It’s all about the positioning from Kornet on this play.
Last Tuesday, when Boston played Portland on the road, Pritchard and Kornet made another great play together. As you’ll see in the video below, Pritchard weaves into the driving lane and creates a a window of space for Kornet to catch a lob and finish the play.
Pritchard and Kornet have spent a lot of time on the court together over the last few years in Boston. By doing so, they’ve been able to learn each other’s play styles and have a chemistry that’s been brewing for a while now.
The two-man game of Pritchard and Kornet is one of the best on the team when it comes to offensive rebounding, which creates second chance opportunities.
The Pritchard-Kornet duo has a 36.6 offensive rebound percentage and a 54.3 total rebound percentage, which is the highest of any duo on the team that’s played at least 500-minutes this season.
It’s a credit to Pritchard and Kornet for always being ready and have played well in their role this season.
The Celtics should feel confident in these guys being contributors in the playoffs.
Follow us on X @CelticsFiles
Follow me on X @Trombino20
Photo Credit: Danielle Parhizkaran, The Boston Globe via Getty Images
The Celtics Files 