Oregon Ducks news: Payton Pritchard in NBA playoffs, Sabrina Ionescu wins WNBA opener, more

The Boston Celtics are dominating their way through the NBA Playoffs and currently hold a 3-1 series lead over the Cleveland Cavaliers.

While he isn’t a starter, former Oregon Ducks point guard Payton Pritchard has done his part to push the Celtics to victory in each game of the postseason.

In Boston’s 109-102 win over the Cavs on May 13, Pritchard had 11 points off the bench, scoring as many as starters Al Horford and Derrick White combined.

Throughout his professional career, Pritchard has repeatedly come up clutch with buzzer beaters and necessary shots from distance for the Celtics.

Throughout the 2023 regular season, the former Duck had the best offensive rating (122.6) in the entire NBA – the league’s MVP Nikola Jokic was graded as a 122.4 offensive player.

Sabrina Ionescu was one of three Ducks starting their WNBA season on Tuesday. The former Oregon history maker and record breaker has been on the New York Liberty's roster since 2020.

Ionescu, joined by fellow former Oregon star Nyara Sabally kicked off their season against the Washington Mystics.

Meanwhile, Sabally's sister and yet another Duck Satou Sabally, who is on the Dallas Wings, will play the Chicago Sky at 5 p.m. PT on May 15.

In the Liberty's game against the Mystics, Ionescu had 15 points, 8 assists, and 7 rebounds. New York walked away with an 85-80 victory over Washington.

More Oregon sports news:

The Oregon women’s track and field team won its 14th Pac-12 Championship, adding to its already bursting trophy case.

Closing out the Ducks’ historic weekend, the Oregon women’s 4x400m team not only finished first, clinching the conference title, but it also set the meet record for the event at 3:27.34.

Sprinter Jadyn Mays went back-to-back as the 100-meter champion, as well as setting the meet record for the event at 11.01 seconds. Not to mention, Mays was named the female athlete of the meet for the second year in a row.

Oregon softball has broken back into the top 25 and stayed there with impressive wins over Stanford despite its first-round departure from the Pac-12 Tournament.

After losing to Utah in the conference tourney, the Ducks earned an invitation to the Norman Regional in the NCAA Tournament, leading up to the Women’s College World Series.

Oregon is currently ranked No. 22 in the country and is scheduled to play the Boston Terriers in Round 1 of the postseason.

Oregon baseball sits at No. 23 in the nation as the Ducks head into their last-ever Pac-12 series.

The Ducks will host the Washington State Cougars to close out their regular season before the conference tournament kicks off on May 21.

Oregon has a 34-16 overall record, and a 16-11 conference record, heading into the home series against the Cougs.

More college sports news:

USC and UConn women’s basketball have scheduled a two-year home-and-home series against one another for 2024 and 2026.

The Trojans feature new national star JuJu Watkins and the Huskeis feature expected No. 1 pick Paige Bueckers.

Both teams made deep runs in the 2024 NCAA Tournament, the Huskies going all the way to the Final Four before losing to Caitlin Clark and the Iowa Hawkeyes.

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