Do you know the feeling when you have a stone in your shoe? Or what if you can’t find your keys? Or the fly that is constantly buzzing around you lands in your ear and you accidentally push it into your ear canal? An annoyance so great that you have no choice but to stop what you are doing and surrender.

That’s Payton Pritchard on defense. Being really fucking annoying is a skill, a talent, that can be learned, but some are born with it. Payton was undoubtedly born with it.

But being annoying isn’t enough. If so, Nick Nurse would be the winningest coach in NBA history. If you want to go from pest to presence on defense, you need to be able to do two things: influence ball handlers and be effective off the ball. Payton Pritchard has done both this season.

His defensive stats don’t jump out at you. The Celtics defense is about 9 points worse with him on the court than it is off it, but a significant portion of that is unsustainable cold shooting when he is off the court. Point guards also have comparatively little influence on team defense compared to a center.

Admittedly, players do better at shots when guarded by PP than when guarded by other players.

However, the vast majority of this is due to players at the rim shooting 9% better when defended by Pritchard. That shouldn’t be a surprise when evaluating a 6-foot-2 guard. The downside is that players have a 39% hit rate on all shots against him from more than 15 feet away. Much of his weakness can be directly attributed to his size, which limits his ability to impact shooters, particularly around the rim. Size may be a limiting factor, but it’s not the only factor, and Pritchard has still developed into a positive defender.

The ball terror

First, let’s talk about his defense on the ball, especially at the point of attack. This isn’t a particularly new ability; PP has been feisty on the ball for some time now, but this year he has continued to improve by increasing his strength and technique.

PP is an upright bull these days and his quick feet keep him in the perfect position to make contact and stay on track. Players of the same size essentially have no chance of displacing him, like trying to throw a balloon into a bathtub to make it overflow. His low center of gravity almost seems to surprise ball handlers at the point of contact. Here’s Shake Milton trying to get into position and equalize PP.

He bounces so hard that he loses the ball.

“Going against someone like Payton is difficult – I would hate to do it,” Jrue Holiday said of his teammate. “Sometimes you just like the easy plays, especially when you’re in the backcourt, but Payton makes it difficult.”

Here’s the OG crazy Anunoby trying to drive him away. Not only does Pritchard recover and stay balanced, he also almost gets the ball, making a small, sneaky downward stroke immediately after contact, harassing Anunoby even after his drive stalls. Anunoby has no choice but to find a kickout given the powerful PP. He weaves his way out of the fight to challenge Mikal Bridges immediately afterward.

His attacking defense borders on elite – he has that tenacity in him. He never stops chasing ball handlers as soon as they touch him, even in the backfield. I can’t imagine how frustrating it must be to be an NBA guard. Perhaps most importantly, he has gotten much better at navigating ball screens and has never missed out on simple switches. Here he pressures Shake Milton over 50 feet before switching to Cam Thomas and avoiding Cam Johnson’s weak pick attempt.

Nothing to do with it, but man, vacation is good. Eliminate Luke in multiple actions this turn. Nice stuff.

Here he does a good job of avoiding a well-adjusted glider and staying in the lock-and-trail position. It leads to a three-pointer for New York, but it’s not because of Pritchard, who has mastered his responsibilities.

When beaten, Pritchard activates Nick Nurse Mode. He gets annoying. Trae Young is a difficult cover for anyone, but Pritchard manages to make him uncomfortable even after steering Trae’s sweet little move the wrong way. The result? One steal and the Celtics go the other way.

He’s strong, he’s balanced and his foot speed has improved over the years. All in all, it’s a defender who has the ball and is very difficult to get around or through, meaning the only way out is to go over him. This works for some players, but not for most. I mean, how many guys can stay with Steph Curry like that?

Improvement off the ball

Off the ball, PP has found a way to behave with varying degrees of impact or neutrality depending on the match. This isn’t news, but the Celtics love to rotate. This leads to Pritchard often being involved in awkward encounters.

One of my favorite aspects of Pritchard’s game is that he seems to enjoy defending a mismatch. He wants the challenge. He feeds on it; they only make him stronger. And he’s already damn strong. When defending a bigger player, it’s important to get him to work off the ball, pushing, shoving and fighting for every inch. Look how much he forces Jalen Johnson to catch that pass. It’s a far cry from the way the Celtics exploit JJ’s teammate Trae Young.

This does two things. The obvious thing is that he is further from the edge. What’s less obvious is that since Johnson has to make his move from such a long distance, Queta has plenty of time to rethink his move and come over to help. No buckets for you, JJ.

While he’s often up to the task, the Cs do an excellent job of protecting him from bad matchups, especially with centers, with PP often communicating the need for a change himself.

It helps when you can scream Jrue Holiday’s name and a 6-foot-1, muscle-bound “point guard” can push you off center. The Celtics have elite tools to empower a defender like Pritchard, and they aren’t afraid to use them. It gets the most out of the Celtics defense and PP at the same time.

As he has gotten older, he has also become more influential as a reliever, particularly at nail. The key to safe assistance is to keep the impact wrenches in place and get back to cover in the event of a kick. It’s a delicate balance that requires IQ and technique. Pritchard developed both.

He does a great job of forcing Brunson to eject Hart on this play. Instead of flying to Hart and fighting, which would potentially allow for a narrow victory, he knows the game plan. The Cs are more than comfortable with Josh Hart over the break three-pointer, so he slides over and challenges Hart to shoot. He does. He misses.

His on-screen improvement isn’t just limited to things on the ball, either. Here, he makes sure that red-hot Buddy Hield doesn’t have any room to breathe, and like an overly determined gadfly, he refuses to leave Hield alone. He interrupts the main action and the counterattacks before forcing Heild to retreat awkwardly to the opponent’s corner, reducing him to nothing more than a distance player for the remainder of possession. That’s all Hield can do to get away from this guy.

Payton Pritchard is not a perfect defensive player; These are very rare (luckily the Celtics have about four of them). But he has developed into a very, very good person. He’s got as much defensive impact as you could want from his 6-foot-3 frame. The type of man you not only trust to carry out the plan, but you also trust him to be able to hold his own against basically any duel except Giannis.

With his effort, his quick feet, his strength, his low center of gravity, his understanding of the Celtics’ defensive concepts and, above all, his obnoxiously charming tenacity, Pritchard has earned his role on both sides. He has gained trust in his coaching staff and Joe Mazzulla is not afraid to let the dog off the leash.