Why Payton Pritchard’s buzzer-beater in the third quarter went a long way in Celtics’ win
Pritchard’s shot, his only field goal of the night, gave the Celtics a 9-point cushion heading into the fourth quarter.
Payton Pritchard caught the inbounds pass inside the paint with 3.1 seconds remaining in the third quarter and sprinted towards the basket on the opposite end of the court.
The Mavericks had sliced a 12-point deficit in half, and the Celtics looked to be losing momentum heading into the fourth quarter of Game 2 at TD Garden Sunday.
Kyrie Irving, who had stomped on the Celtics’ midcourt logo during a playoff series a few years back, watched as Pritchard pulled up a few feet to the right of it and launched a 38-foot heave.
Dallas guard Derrick Jones Jr. leapt with one hand in the air to contest the shot, but it wasn’t enough to deter Pritchard, who banked in the buzzer-beater.
“I just chalk that up to just being in Boston,” Irving said. “You know, some of those shots, they go up in the air, and I remember last game Sam Hauser caught it in the corner, and I don’t think he even brought the ball down. It was practically all net. They feel very confident here. They have been a great team all year.”
Pritchard’s shot was his only field goal of the night, and it gave the Celtics a 9-point cushion heading into the fourth quarter. Coach Joe Mazzulla went out of his way to praise Pritchard before answering the first question of his postgame news conference, which happened to be about Jayson Tatum’s shooting struggles (6 for 22 from the field, 1 for 7 from three).
“Before that, I think the play of the game can’t go unnoticed, the humility of our team, is Payton’s shot at the end of the quarter,” Mazzulla said. “You see guys around the league pass up on that shot or fake like they want to take it, so that their numbers don’t get messed up.
“He takes pride in taking that, and that’s winning basketball. So that’s the first and foremost.”
Derrick White said seeing Pritchard sink a buzzer-beater is nothing new. He also hit one during the third quarter of the win over the Cavaliers in Game 1 of the conference semifinals. Pritchard has a knack for those shots, White said.
“That’s what Payton Pritchard does,” White said. “If you watch us late clock, he doesn’t shy away from that moment. That was a big-time shot, kind of got us momentum. You just love Payton. You love competing with him.”
Pritchard doesn’t just refuse to shy away from those moments, he embraces them. Once he saw what the situation was, he was itching to get into the game, Jaylen Brown said.
“Man, that was incredible,” Brown said. “I heard he, like, checked himself in the game too. Like, he’s been hitting those shots all season long. If anybody has been paying attention to it, he’s made I don’t know how many of those, at least three or four. So tonight he made it in in biggest of moments.”
Pritchard checked in for Jrue Holiday, who had fouled Irving on the previous play. It was Holiday’s third foul and one he did not plan on committing, but it gave another reason for Pritchard to sub in.
“I didn’t want to foul him, but I’m kind of glad that I did,” Holiday said. “The energy that Payton brings …
“He’s done it so many times this year. Where he’s had the courage to take it and he’s knocked, it has been huge for us. So it was definitely a confidence boost and really just boosted us for the rest of that game.”
The NBA shared a video on its X account of Mazzulla thanking Pritchard for taking the shot during a postgame locker room speech.
“The humility and the toughness to go in and take that shot within three seconds, that’s the difference between winning and losing, so thank you for taking that shot,” the coach told Pritchard.
It was another example of why Pritchard has earned his trust to take such shots, Mazzulla told reporters.
“He has the humility and selflessness to not care if he misses it,” Mazzulla said. “He practices it and has an understanding of how a shot like that can impact the end of a quarter and it can impact the run that a team makes.
“So they had went on a run to end the quarter, and I thought that shot kind of gave us a little bit of poise and a little bit of momentum that we needed heading into the fourth quarter. That was big-time.”
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