NBA FINALS: CELTICS VS. WARRIORS

June 1, 2022

Payton Pritchard

Boston Celtics

Media Day

Q. Are you aware of Malik's bench reactions and how they've gone a little bit viral, how crazy he gets on the bench cheering you on?

PAYTON PRITCHARD: A little bit. But we love it, though. It's good. Having everybody be a part of that stuff, that excitement, it goes a long way.

Q. How does it feel to get a couple days' rest in?

PAYTON PRITCHARD: Amazing. Amazing. We've been playing every other day. With the in between every other day traveling, it's been a crazy time.

But it feels nice to get three days.

Q. Did it sink in any more coming here today the stage you guys are all about to be on?

PAYTON PRITCHARD: Yeah, it's all our first time. Like I said, it's crazy. We're just all enjoying it, but also staying locked in because we want to win this championship.

Q. How do you focus on staying locked in when all this is going on?

PAYTON PRITCHARD: I think you just try to limit distractions. Obviously everybody has a lot of family, different people trying to reach out to them, be a part of it. Just trying to do the same what you've been doing all year.

Q. One of the great stories of this is Al making the Finals. What can you say about him?

PAYTON PRITCHARD: His leadership alone has been unbelievable. Obviously he's done great things on the court. I mean, his defense, him knocking down threes. But his leadership has been the biggest thing, just that veteran presence. That's gone a long way.

Q. Obviously the Warriors have a ton of experience in the Finals, where this roster doesn't. How do you almost use that to your advantage in a way?

PAYTON PRITCHARD: No experience? I guess we're going to be excited. We're going to be juiced. Just use that to our advantage to come out from the jump, be out running, all that.

Q. How excited are you for what the Garden is going to be like for Games 3 and 4?

PAYTON PRITCHARD: It's going to be rocking there. It's going to be rocking for sure. Boston is going to be crazy.