Watch: Celtics’ Payton Pritchard drains four 3-pointers in win over Magic

Payton Pritchard on Friday scored 16 points off the bench to help lead the Boston Celtics to a 124-97 victory over the Orlando Magic after a week-long hiatus.

The 26th overall pick produced 10 points alone in the second quarter to help the Celtics build a 12-point lead at halftime. Pritchard connected on 6-of-13 shots from the field, including 4-of-8 from 3-point range, while adding four rebounds, three assists and one blocked shot off the bench.

Pritchard came out and helped the Celtics build a big lead following a strong second-quarter effort. He has often brought those types of performances off the bench and has served as a tremendous source of energy off the bench this season.

Boston returned to the court for the first time since Jan. 8 after having three games postponed due to COVID-19 issues. The Celtics were unable to field the league-mandated eight available players due to contact tracing following a positive test on Jayson Tatum, but they showed little rust after leading for much of the evening.

The win by the Celtics marked their fifth straight to improve to 8-3 on the season, the best record by percentage points in the Eastern Conference. Certainly, players like Tatum, Jaylen Brown, Marcus Smart and others have played a vital role in the hot start but the addition of Pritchard off the bench has also been significant for the team.

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