Hawks Vs. Celtics Player Grades: Payton Pritchard Is Your Sixthiest Man Alive

In a game of runs, it was the Celtics that eventually finished out the final stretch to beat the visiting Hawks 109-102 behind 36 points off the bench from Payton Pritchard and a 26-12-5 line from Jayson Tatum. Without Jaylen Brown (and Nikola Vucevic), Boston was able weather a Hawks’ 25-9 opening kick and a 26-14 run bridging the second and third quarter to push their record to 49-24 and end Atlanta’s three-game winning streak and adding a loss to their 14-2 record since February 22nd.

After beating the Oklahoma City Thunder earlier in the week and a top-6 Eastern Conference team, the Celtics sit at +600 with our friends at FanDuel to win the 2026 Finals.

Jayson Tatum

36 minutes, 26 points (2-8 from 3, 8-10 from the free throw line, 8-24 from the field), 12 rebounds, 5 assists, 2 turnovers, +1

It wasn’t the most efficient night for Tatum, but you can see him slowly getting his legs and confidence back in Game #10. Where Tatum seems to be lacking is where you’d expect: finishing. Whether it’s getting lift on his pull-up 3s, rising around the rim, or changing direction on his drives, he doesn’t seem to have his twitchiness yet. To be honest, it might take another summer to get that back.

However, where he’s been consistent is in areas where he can use his size — Tatum seems a little stronger in his upper body, right? — and length to overpower defenders, rebound, and navigate the floor and find shooters with his passing.

“I mean, I thought I saw his defensive rebounding. I thought that was the most important thing.  Thought offensively, got into the paint, got to the, you know, was able to get to the free throw line, shoot ten free throws, just continuing to chip away at giving the game what it needs,” Joe Mazzulla said after the game. “He was aggressive in his drive, missed some easy layups there, but as long as he stays aggressive, as long he makes the right read, as long as he continues to rebound, he’s, you know, continuing to get better and better.”

The ball seemed a little sticky whenever JT got a matchup that he thought he could beat, but it’s important for him to get those reps in March before they really matter in April, May, and June.

Grade: B

Sam Hauser

29 minutes, 10 points (2-5 from 3, 4-7 from the field), 3 rebounds, 2 assists, one turnovers, -2

It’s been an odd couple of games for Hauser. When he’s been wide open, he’s uncharacteristically been missing those. In tight windows or off the dribble, he’s hit the more difficult looks.

Grade: B+

Neemias Queta

27 minutes, 5 points (1-2 from the free throw line, 2-2 from the field), 11 rebounds, 5 assists, 3 turnovers, 1 block, +5

The Hawks are a high-volume drive team, but for the most part, the Celtics were able to control the defensive glass and Atlanta’s halfcourt offense because of Queta’s presence in the paint. Neemi didn’t score much, but I’ll chalk that up to Brown not playing and Queta not getting those dunker spot opportunities.

Grade: B

Derrick White

34 minutes, 10 points (0-4 from 3, 4-5 from the free throw line, 3-13 from the field), 4 rebounds, 5 assists, 3 turnovers, -4

Over his last four games, DWhite has shot 6-15, 6-15, 3-11, and 3-13 last night against the Hawks. There’s no worry here even though he’s mired in a season-long slump.

Grade: C+

Baylor Scheierman

28 minutes, 3 points (1-3 from 3, 1-3 from the field), 6 rebounds, 2 assists, one turnover, -13

Scheierman replaced Jaylen Brown in the starting lineup and was largely invisible against Atlanta. He still played good defense whenever he got his licks against Jalen Johnson and Nickeil Alexander-Johnson and was a steady Baller Scheierman tonight rather than the Baylor Schowman that we saw against the Thunder on Wednesday.

Grade: C

Payton Pritchard

34 minutes, 36 points (6-11 from 3, 4-4 from the free throw line, 13-23 from the field), 7 rebounds, 4 assists, 5 turnovers, +26

Simply put, the Celtics don’t win this game without PP going nuclear. After making all three from behind the arc in the first half, another three straight triples in the third quarter put Boston up virtually up for good for the rest of the game. He hit the Hawks with a couple of drives and grabbed some timely offensive rebounds which made up for his five turnovers.

Grade: A+

Jordan Walsh

27 minutes, 5 points (1-1 from 3, 2-3 from the field), 3 rebounds, one assist, 3 blocks, +3

After six straight DNP-CDs, Walsh ate up the minutes vacated by Jaylen Brown and did well in his return to the rotation. For Walsh to be successful, he has to find ways to impact the game without the ball. When he was starting earlier in the year, that met being a plus defender on the opposing team’s best player and hitting catch-and-shoot opportunities. In other words, getting in where he was fitting in. A block here, a block there, a back door cut here, a kick out 3 there on a night when the Celtics needed to gut out a win earns high marks for JW.

Grade: A

Luka Garza

15 minutes, 11 points (1-2 from 3, 2-2 from the free throw line, 4-5 from the field), 4 rebounds, 2 assists, +10

Garza has become reliable at all the things you can’t count on. In every game, you just know he’s going to grab an offensive rebound or two and get a handful of second chance points. If he picks and pops for an open three, there’s a good chance that it’s going down. Last night, he had a pair of decel drives that I didn’t see coming, but like I said, he’s reliably surprised me all year long.

Grade: A-

Hugo Gonzalez

7 minutes, 3 points (1-1 from 3, 1-1 from the field), 2 rebounds, 7 assists, +10

In the box score, it’ll never look like much, but the kid just adds juice to the game when it needs it. When Gonzalez, Walsh, Garza, and Pritchard came in at the 6-minute mark of the first quarter, Boston was down 17-9. Going into the second, they flipped the script and were only down 3. It wasn’t all because of Hugo, but he added a little pickup to the game after the Celtics went down early.

Grade: B

DNP-CD: Ron Harper Jr., Amari Williams, Max Shulga, Charles Bassey

Inactive: Nikola Vucevic, Jaylen Brown