The Boston Celtics are nearing the end of a five-game in seven night schedule this week with back-to-back games this weekend at the TD Garden against the Milwaukee Bucks and Memphis Grizzlies.

Payton Pritchard has led the way for Boston in many ways this season. He’s averaging 16.5 points on 48.8 percent shooting from the floor and 42.8 percent from behind the arc with 3.2 rebounds, 3.0 assists, and 1.1 steals per game off the bench this season.

He continues to be consistent with everything he does on both ends of the court. One of the most noticeable features of Pritchard’s game is how many shots he’s putting up from behind the arc each game.

Pritchard is attempting 11.5 field goals per game, which is 3.8 more than last year. He’s also shooting 8.8 more 3-point attempts, which is 4.1 more than last year.

To his credit, Pritchard is connecting on those shots and the numbers prove it. He’s in a class with only Steph Curry for 3-point attempts per game and shooting percentage this season:

• Pritchard: 8.8 3PA, 42.8%
• Curry: 10.0 3PA, 41.9%

Pritchard is the current frontrunner to win the NBA Sixth Man of the Year Award.

Here are other notes and takeaways from the Celtics:

• Jaylen Brown could be looking at a fine from the NBA for a gesture he made towards Detroit Pistons Isaiah Stewart after a posterizing dunk. He probably got caught up in the moment but he said he was sending a message toward Stewart for the aggressive way that he plays.
• Kristaps Porzingis has looked great since he returned. He’s averaging 21.0 points on 49.1 percent shooting, 7.8 rebounds, and 1.8 assists in four games this season.
• Drew Peterson has played with Boston in recent games, seeing 56 minutes over the last four games.
• Joe Mazzulla is starting to use more of his roster with a heavy game schedule this week. He mentioned in a postgame press conference that building continuity with the G League team is important for the franchise. We’ve seen JD Davison, Jordan Walsh, Drew Peterson, and rookie Baylor Scheierman see the court with Boston in the first quarter of the season.
• It’ll be interesting to see how Boston uses Al Horford and Kristaps Porzingis in the back-to-back games this weekend. Usually head coach Joe Mazzulla will stagger the off days between the two, but he didn’t do that to start this week. Keeping an eye on this from Mazzulla will be key.
• Jayson Tatum missed his first game of the season on Wednesday against Detroit.
• JD Davison scored a career-high 46-points for the Maine Celtics.
• Derrick White made 11 assists for the first time this season.

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Photo Credit: Danielle Parhizkaran, The Boston Goobe, Getty Images