Boston Celtics guard Payton Pritchard is widely viewed as the early frontrunner for the NBA’s Sixth Man of the Year race, but clearly, not everyone has been tuned in.
Former NBA All-Star guard Gilbert Arenas, in fact, doesn’t seem locked into Celtics basketball at all, evident in the 42-year-old podcaster’s egregious take. Arenas challenged Boston head coach Joe Mazzulla for playing Pritchard, an elite 3-point shooter, and Drew Peterson, at the same time during Monday night’s Celtics win over the Miami Heat.
“There’s no way in (expletive) hell that you can have 11 and 13 in the same game,” Arenas said watching highlights of the game. “There’s no way you can have these two guys. Look at 13, look how he walk. Oh, he walk like, ‘Score please on me so I can sit. My daddy gave me tickets. My daddy gave me tickets to the game and they just let me in.’ There’s no way.”
Arenas should’ve stopped himself while he was ahead instead of cosplaying as Skip Bayless. Pritchard finished the night with 25 points, shooting 10-of-17 from the field, knocking down five threes and outscoring Miami’s bench (21 points) entirely. To the casual, condensed game-watching couch potato, this is an acceptable display of ignorance but for an ex-NBA veteran, this is disingenuous idiocy.
Pritchard, before getting set for Wednesday night’s matchup against the Detroit Pistons at TD Garden, offered a response to Arenas.
“Why can’t 11 and 13 be in the game?” Pritchard replied on his Instagram story. “Just curious.”
Pritchard has put the league on notice this season, averaging a career-high 16.4 points, 3.1 rebounds and 2.9 assists while leading the Celtics in 3-point percentage (43.1%). The 26-year-old ranks fifth in total threes made (78), ahead of future Hall of Famers James Harden (67), Stephen Curry (67), Damian Lillard (58) and Devin Booker (54). If that doesn’t explain why Pritchard’s on the floor, regardless of who’s alongside, then Arenas should probably set down the podcasting microphone.
The Celtics have even admitted to devoting an entire practice drill to defending Pritchard at full court, which Jrue Holiday described as “crazy.” So while it’s easy for Arenas to lazily talk down on Pritchard, teams and coaches across the league and speak to the undersized guard’s offensive wrath unleashed each night.
