Watch: Celtics’ Payton Pritchard hits buzzer-beater heave in Game 2 vs. Mavericks
Payton Pritchard's last-second heave snapped a 7-0 Mavericks run.
Payton Pritchard is no stranger to hitting half-court heaves in the final seconds of quarters, with the Celtics guard compiling an impressive highlight reel of those plays already in his NBA career.
But the 26-year-old Pritchard sank the most important halfcourt shot of his career on Sunday night in Game 2 of the NBA Finals — hitting a 34-foot shot from just past the Celtics logo at mid court to give Boston an 83-74 point entering the fourth quarter.
Pritchard’s last-second shot as time expired in the third quarter came at a critical time against the Mavericks, with Dallas reeling off a 7-0 run in the third to cut Boston’s lead to six.
Pritchard was 0-for-8 from the field in the 2024 NBA Finals before hitting that highlight-reel attempt from deep — giving his team some much-needed breathing room going into the fourth.
You can watch Pritchard’s latest buzzer-beater below.
“I love buzzer-beater moments like that,” Pritchard told MassLive’s Souichi Terada of his knack for last-second shots. “You got the freedom to take it off the rebound and go down and it’s an energy type play. I think that changed the whole momentum of the game and kind of took their wind out of them. That’s why you always gotta shoot them.”
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