Payton Pritchard ‘likely’ broke his nose, Celtics guard will travel back to Boston for evaluation

by **bobheckler** Thu Oct 14, 2021 2:05 am

https://www.masslive.com/celtics/2021/10/payton-pritchard-likely-broke-his-nose-celtics-guard-will-travel-back-to-boston-for-evaluation.html

Payton Pritchard ‘likely’ broke his nose, Celtics guard will travel back to Boston for evaluation

Updated: 10:26 p.m. | Published: 10:25 p.m.

By Brian Robb | brobb@masslive.com

Payton Pritchard will travel back to Boston on Thursday for further evaluation after ‘likely’ suffering a broken nose according to head coach Ime Udoka in Wednesday’s loss to the Orlando Magic.

The second-year guard suffered the injury with just over a minute remaining in the first half against Orlando while moving away from the ball. A Magic defender (Ignas Brazdeikis) inadvertently hit Pritchard in the face, which led to the Celtics guard being subbed out of the game just seconds later and heading straight to the locker room. Pritchard was ruled out of the game at halftime by the team’s training staff.

“He’s gonna get it evaluated here and fly back to Boston,” Udoka said of Pritchard. “Likely broken nose, and we’ll see when he’s ready from that. But he’ll be examined tonight and go back to Boston - miss the Miami game.”

The Celtics are just one week away from the regular-season opener against the New York Knicks next Wednesday night so it is unclear whether the injury could sideline Pritchard beyond Friday’s preseason finale. If Pritchard is cleared to play, he will likely need some sort of facial protection to protect his nose while the injury heals.

Boston may also be without big man Al Horford for the team’s regular season opener as he awaits clearance from the NBA health and safety protocols after a positive COVID-19 test earlier this week. Jaylen Brown is expected to be cleared in time to play next Wednesday after testing positive for COVID-19 last Friday. League sources indicated to MassLive.com that both Horford and Brown suffered breakthrough cases and are vaccinated.

The injury to Pritchard puts a sour note on a strong preseason for the Oregon product, with the guard taking on more of a ball-handling role while the team rested their veteran guards on Wednesday night.

“We want him to learn and learn the position, and we always preach to him about making plays not just for yourself, but for others,” Udoka said Wednesday night. “He’s a guy, obviously, teams are going to guard a specific way because of his shooting ability. We want him to get downhill and find other guys. Early in the game, they had to adjust with Bamba’s length a little bit. I think we missed Rob there on a few drop offs or lobs, but he adjusted well. Obviously the shooting threat is always there with him but just really want him to learn the position, take the challenge on the defensive end, and I think he’s done that through summer league and then training camp.”

Pritchard ends his preseason averaging 10.0 points per game while shooting 44 percent from 3-point range on six attempts per game.

Bob

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