Celtics notes: Pritchard, White, injuries, Mazzulla

Payton Pritchard provided a huge boost off the bench on Friday evening Celtics opened a close game in Chicago and kept their hopes of a spot in the knockout round of the NBA Cup alive, MassLive’s Brian Robb writes. Then forced into special service Derrick White Pritchard left the game in the third quarter with a right ankle sprain, played 28 minutes, including the final 19, and scored 29 points. He hit seven three-pointers and scored all of his points in a late 11-4 run that clinched the game.

“Of course it’s a great feeling, but the best feeling for me is winning away and being able to help my team overcome the crisis tonight.” Pritchard said. “Obviously I feel it. I can hear the crowd, the gravity that pulls them. It was definitely a fun evening.”

Pritchard is in his fifth season with Boston and it seems like a long time since he asked for a move due to a lack of playing time. He has become one of the league’s most dangerous bench weapons – posting a career-high 15.6 PPG while shooting 48.5% from the field and 44% from three-point range – and Jayson Tatum insists that he receives individual recognition.

“It was pretty cool to see him grow into the player he is and be effective on a championship team.” Tatum said: “And the things he does are worthy of Sixth Man of the Year to me.”

There’s more about the Celtics:

• White’s injury does not appear to be serious as he is listed as questionable for Sunday’s showdown with Cleveland for first place in the East, according to MassLive’s Souichi Terada. Kristaps Porzingis, Al Horford And Jrue holiday are also questionable, and Terada expects they could be staggered as Boston prepares for a stretch of five games in seven days.
• Other coaches have expressed reservations about running up the score in NBA Cup games to gain a points advantage, but Joe Mazzulla “I enjoy this aspect of the tournament,” adds Terada in a separate story. Mazzulla took a timeout Friday and had 1.4 seconds left to set one up Sam Hauser Three-pointer that increased the Celtics’ final lead to nine points. “I like it because this tournament and the point difference kind of overrides the unwritten rules that you should or shouldn’t follow.” said Mazzulla. “In a normal situation you wouldn’t do that. But in this case, you can design a piece and try to get better in this situation. So the boys did a good job and we tried to increase the points difference as much as possible.”
• Three-point defense was a problem in Friday’s game, as Chicago stayed close and sank 20 shots from long range, notes Gary Washburn of The Boston Globe. It was the most goals of the entire season against the Celtics, who rank fourth in the league in limiting three-point shots. “We had to increase the pressure a little bit. We scored and maybe we weren’t as physical with them, so they felt good about themselves.” Porzingis said. “In the second half we put the emphasis on being more physical with them and making them work a little bit harder for everything.”