Pritchard shares update on MCL sprain, timetable for return

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Payton Pritchard is making progress in his recovery after suffering an MCL sprain in last week's game vs. the Philadelphia 76ers.

The rookie isn't ready to return to the Boston Celtics bench just yet, but he has ramped up his on-court activity in recent days.

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"As far as the timetable goes, really it's going to be when I feel the best and our staff feels that I'm able to go out there and go 100 percent. So that's the biggest thing. I'm not trying to go out there if I'm only like 80, 90 percent, I want to be back fully," Pritchard said Friday.

"The last two, three days I've been on the court so I'm starting to move and cut and stuff like that, so I'm getting there. I would say I'm a little over 50 percent but obviously this is a process so each day it's gotten better and better."

Pritchard added that he initially feared the worst when he went down with the injury, having never experienced a knee injury before.

“They said it can feel like it popped. That was my first ever knee injury. Obviously, when I got hit, then feeling like it popped, then the pain, you go to the worst (thoughts)," he said. "My mind was like, ‘I’m done. I’m done for however long. You start to, not necessarily panic, but that was the first time it happened to me. It ended up just being an MCL sprain which obviously I should be able to come back from pretty quickly.”

Thankfully, Pritchard should return sooner rather than later. That's great news for a Celtics team that has been pleasantly surprised by the No. 26 overall pick's contributions off the bench this season.

The C's will host the Los Angeles Lakers Saturday night at 8:30 p.m ET., with Celtics Pregame Live at 7:30 p.m. on NBC Sports Boston.

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