The Boston Celtics have had a bit of a tough start to their 2025-26 NBA regular season campaign, and there are plenty of good excuses to point to that explain why Boston has struggled out of the gate. To start with, there is one key player on the bench this season as star forward Jayson Tatum recovers from an Achilles injury. And the Celtics then moved on from key players like Al Horford and Jrue Holiday, signing players like Luka Garza and Josh Minott to replace them.
And players like Neemias Queta, Derrick White and Payton Pritchard have had to step into larger roles than they are used to, all of which has combined to spark a lot more losses than Boston fans are used to in recent years and some pretty egregious shooting slumps. But Pritchard is not leaning into any of these excuses to explain away the Celtics’ rough start, which he made clear after Boston’s 123-110 loss to the Orlando Magic in NBA Cup play Friday (Nov. 7) night. “I feel like I’m still yet to put a full game together,” said Pritchard via CLNS Media. “I know I maybe shot the 3 ball better, but I wasn’t as great in the paint tonight.”
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“I also had some bad turnovers,” added the Oregon native. “I … lost the ball one time on the baseline. And then I missed some real easy paint shots I should have made.”
Nov 7, 2025; Orlando, Florida, USA; Boston Celtics guard Payton Pritchard (11) drives to the basket past Orlando Magic guard Jalen Suggs (4) in the first quarter at Kia Center. Mandatory Credit: Nathan Ray Seebeck-Imagn Images
“Once I can pull a full one, then I won’t feel that way,” he added. “We’ve got to match up better. It’s a match up thing. We’re going to try to pick up against a team that they’ve tried to start pushing, you don’t really have a man, you just have got to get back.”
“Now Franz (Wagner) did a tough and one, I don’t know how he made that, but over three people, but it’s just stuff like that. We got it back to a tie game, and he comes back and wins. So those are the momentum plays we have got to clean up.”
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This article originally appeared on Celtics Wire: Pritchard takes responsibility for uneven start to season with Celtics