After averaging 19.2 minutes per game as a rookie in 2020-21, Celtics guard Payton Pritchard was eager to build on that during his second season. But then the Celtics acquired veteran backcourt players who pushed him down the depth chart, and his playing time dipped.
“He was [ticked] about it, for sure,” said Rockets coach Ime Udoka, who coached Pritchard in Boston that season.
Udoka said he met with Pritchard often that season and stressed that new opportunities could be created at any time, and that he should stay prepared. In February, the Celtics traded Dennis Schröder, Josh Richardson, and Romeo Langford, and Derrick White was the only guard they added.
“[I told him to] just keep that edge, be [ticked] that you’re not playing, which I like about him, love that about him,” Udoka said Monday before his Rockets beat the Celtics, 114-112, at TD Garden. “But sometimes it’s just a logjam with minutes. Once we made the trade and some spots opened up it was, ‘Be ready for that opportunity when you’re called upon.’ It was that simple. We have these guys in front of you that we just signed and we’re trying to figure out our team. Obviously it was the first year with myself and that group together, with Dennis and some of those rotations that we had. It was just staying ready. And I know that about [Pritchard] that he always will.”
Pritchard, who had 15 points Monday, stepped into an important role as the Celtics marched to the NBA Finals before losing to the Warriors. A year later, he was in a similar spot at the end of the bench under first-year coach Joe Mazzulla, and he publicly and privately requested a trade.
But that summer the Celtics traded Marcus Smart to the Grizzlies, and Pritchard has been an essential part of Boston’s rotation ever since. This season he has emerged as a leading candidate to be named Sixth Man of the Year.
“Happy to see what he’s doing with the opportunity,” Udoka said, “and obviously did that with us as well once the trades happened [in 2022].”
Walker honored
The Celtics held Move4Heather Night in honor of former vice president of public relations Heather Walker, who died from glioblastoma in April 2023. The players wore warm-up shirts honoring Walker, and the Pediatric Brain Tumor Foundation was the beneficiary of the Shamrock Foundation’s 50/50 raffle. Also, the Shamrock Foundation will match donations received this week and distribute them to the PBTF.
Walker was diagnosed with brain cancer in July 2021 and spent nearly two years battling the disease herself and raising money and awareness to help fight it on a larger scale.
“That journey of what they’re going through as a family, and the mark she left on the Celtics now, are bigger than basketball,” Mazzulla said. “So it’s an honor to be a part of that.”
On the shelf
White (shin) and forward Sam Hauser (hip) missed Monday’s game. Al Horford (toe) was available after being listed as questionable …The Rockets were without forwards Cam Whitmore (illness) and Jabari Smith (hand).
Adam Himmelsbach can be reached at adam.himmelsbach@globe.com. Follow him @adamhimmelsbach.