Revamped Celtics defense is led by physicality (but backed by teaching)

The Boston Celtics are reshaping their defense, and guys like Payton Pritchard, Anfernee Simons, and Josh Minott have lived that process.

Boston Celtics, Payton Pritchard, Anfernee Simons, Josh Minott | Steven Ryan/GettyImagesBOSTON — Dried blood stained Payton Pritchard’s neck as he entered his media scrum after Boston Celtics practice on Saturday afternoon.

“It's definitely been a war out there,” he said.

Sam Cassell called this year the most brutal training camp he’s witnessed since entering the NBA as a player in 1993. Joe Mazzulla tossed that aside as recency bias—“We don't remember the way we felt last year and two years ago and three years ago.”—yet Pritchard’s battle scar told…