Hauser, Pritchard Combine for 48 Points in Win Over Raptors

BOSTON – We already know that Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum make up the best duo in the NBA, but the best duo on the TD Garden court Friday night was Sam Hauser and Payton Pritchard.

While a few of Boston’s regular rotation players were sidelined for its second straight home matchup with the Toronto Raptors, Hauser and Pritchard took advantage of their extended playing time by putting forth their best respective efforts of the season, combining for 48 points in a 121-102 win.

The tandem finished 1 and 2 in the scoring column among all players in the game, as Hauser poured in a career-high 26 points, shooting 10-of-16 from the field and 6-of-12 from 3-point range, while Pritchard logged a season-best 22 points, making 9-of-14 from the floor and 4-of-8 from long range.

Earning his seventh start of the season, Hauser saw a game-high 37 minutes and was a key catalyst in helping Boston build a 36-point lead over its Atlantic Division rival. He tied his career high in 3-point makes and, more impressively, slammed the first three dunks of his career.

“I haven’t had that many dunks in a game since high school,” Hauser said in his post-game press conference. “So I’ll take it.” 

Hauser’s teammates were taken aback by his sudden soaring ability and went crazy after each jam.

“I think you could see our reaction, we were caught off guard for sure,” said Jayson Tatum, who erupted for 21 points on 7-of-7 shooting from inside the arc in less than 20 minutes of action. “We were pretty pumped and excited for him because we’d never really seen Sam do that before.”

Tatum was also happy in general for the way in which Hauser led the C’s against a fully-loaded Raptors squad that was still jockeying for playoff position. It wasn’t the first time Hauser has stepped up this season; he’s now played 30-plus minutes seven times this season and has averaged 17.6 points and 4.7 3-point makes in those games.

“Sam is a big part of our team and what we’re trying to accomplish,” said Tatum. “This is just a testament to how hard he’s worked, especially this offseason and this season to be prepared for moments like this, that he’s going to go out there and produce and we trust him to. He’s made tremendous strides from last season to really be in the rotation of one of the guys that we trust in games like this or in big games like the playoffs.”

The Celtics also trust Pritchard’s ability to come through when he’s needed, as he did Friday night and has done on many previous nights throughout his career.

The third-year point guard had only played nine minutes over the past month heading into the Raptors matchup due to a heel injury, so it was good for him to find a flow so quickly. His 22 points came in just 24 minutes of action, which also included four rebounds and five assists.

“Rhythm is a big thing in this game,” said Pritchard, “so for me to get these last two games and get in a rhythm a little bit and just feel that flow again is important after I hadn’t played in a month.”

Although the C’s were missing a couple of key players, such as Malcolm Brogdon, Jaylen Brown, and Marcus Smart, it was important for the rest of the team to get into a flow and build confidence heading into the playoffs. They’ll look to develop that even further during Sunday afternoon’s regular-season finale against the Atlanta Hawks.

“When everything’s clicking like that, and everyone’s making shots, obviously things are fun,” said Hauser. “And you’re getting stops on defense, that’s always fun too. People are diving on the floor or offensive rebounding, that stuff’s fun. And winning like that is really fun. So hopefully we can carry that over to Sunday and finish out the year on a high note.”