‘Very disappointed’ Payton Pritchard was major ‘problem’ for Nets in Celtics rout

BROOKLYN — Payton Pritchard was unhappy with his performance in Tuesday night’s Celtics defeat.

He didn’t think he played with the necessary energy in Boston’s sloppy, mistake-filled, one-point home loss to Atlanta and wanted to remedy that Wednesday against Brooklyn.

Mission accomplished.

With starting guard Derrick White finding himself in early foul trouble, Pritchard saw one of his largest workloads of the season and delivered an excellent all-around performance. He scored 23 points on 8-of-13 shooting and recorded eight assists, six rebounds, two steals and one block in a 139-114 win over the Nets at Barclays Center.

“Everybody was very disappointed (about Tuesday’s game),” Pritchard said. “I was very disappointed in myself. I felt like I came out with no energy yesterday, and it showed. I had no pop, and we got humbled (by Atlanta). We didn’t respect our opponent. But we came back today, and it showed the character of our team. We came in fine and got the job done.”

Pritchard is best known for his 3-point shooting, and he hit five of those Wednesday on nine attempts. But he said his focus was on other areas of his game: driving to the paint and being feisty with his on-ball defense.

Head coach Joe Mazzulla immediately mentioned Pritchard’s “ball pressure” while praising the 26-year-old after the win.

“(He’s a) two-way player,” Mazzulla said. “His ball pressure, he got some deflections, got some steals, and he has an ability — he can handle in pick-and-roll, he can play off the ball, and guys are doing a great job finding him. So, he’s playing at a high level for us right now. (It’s) fun to watch.”

Pritchard is off to the best start of his career and is a front-runner for Sixth Man of the Year, but the loss to the Hawks was his quietest game yet. He finished with just six points on 2-of-8 shooting in 25 minutes, failing to provide the bench scoring Boston has relied on through 13 games.

“I just was not myself last game,” Pritchard lamented. “No pop. Defensively, I didn’t like the intensity. Shots, not attacking the paint, anything like that. So I was definitely disappointed, and I wanted to come in and — I wasn’t, like, saying I’m going to score a lot, but just to attack and be a problem.”

He succeeded.

“Man, Payton’s been excellent,” said Jaylen Brown, who’s been one of Pritchard’s most vocal cheerleaders in news conferences. “He’s been great, and that’s what we need. He’s been a superstar in his role. It’s almost like now it’s kind of expected because he’s done it so much and he’s done it so well.

“But obviously, it’s a long season. We’ve got to keep encouraging and finding him. And at times even playing through him; let Payton run the show. I don’t mind, especially when guys have a role in it. Just have the mindset that we’re a team, and whatever it takes to get it done.”

Jayson Tatum said the Celtics’ bench — led by Pritchard, Sam Hauser, Luke Kornet and, once Kristaps Porzingis returns to action, Al Horford — has “guys that would be starting on most other teams.”

“Payton is super important,” Tatum said. “I think he’s having the best start of his career. I think being so aggressive off the bench, a lot of times he changes the course of the game. If we have a lead, he extends it. Like, in Milwaukee (last week) he kept us in the game in that first half. That’s just so important and shows how valuable everybody on our team is that we need everybody.”