How Payton Pritchard became the NBA’s best buzzer-beater scorer – NBC Sports Boston
Ask an NBA fan about Payton Pritchard, and likelihood is they will carry up the 2024 NBA Finals, when the Celtics guard buried halfcourt buzzer-beaters in Game 2 and Game 5 to assist Boston dispatch the Dallas Mavericks and lift Banner 18.
Those two heaves have been undoubtedly Pritchard’s most well-known shot clock beaters. But they definitely weren’t their final.
Over the final two common seasons since that Finals victory, Pritchard has scored a whopping 307 factors on 132 made area objectives in “late shot clock” conditions, which the NBA defines as zero to 4 seconds on the 24-second timer.
In 2025-26 alone, Pritchard poured in 203 factors on 89 for 204 taking pictures (43.6 p.c) in late shot clock conditions, main the whole NBA in all three classes.
Pritchard did not edge out his All-Star opponents in these classes, both; I’ve lapped the area. Here are the prime 5 whole level scorers in late shot clock conditions this season:
- Payton Pritchard, Celtics: 203 factors
- Jalen Brunson, Knicks: 175 factors
- Kevin Durant, Rockets: 160 factors
- Jamal Murray, Nuggets: 152 factors
- James Harden, Cavaliers: 140 factors
Pritchard’s 89 late shot clock area objectives have been 11 greater than the next-closest participant (Brunson, 78). And regardless of that top quantity, he remained impressively environment friendly, taking pictures 43.6 p.c from the area and 35.7 p.c from 3-point vary on buzzer-beaters. (For context, Harden was a woeful 24 p.c on buzzer-beater 3s, making 24 of his league-leading 100 makes an attempt.)
Seeing Pritchard’s identify forward of perennial All-Stars at the prime of those buzzer-beating leaderboards is definitely eye-opening. But it should not be a shock to Celtics followers who’ve watched the ball discover its method to Pritchard like a magnet as the shot clock expires.
That’s no coincidence, both: Pritchard prides himself on delivering when his crew is in a time crunch.
“It’s a momentum play,” Pritchard instructed reporters after a late-March win over the Atlanta Hawks. “The crowd feels it. Our team feels it. I feel like it’s crucial, because then, ending a quarter, a half, and then going into the next possession — you get that energy and that momentum swing.”
Pritchard has been doing a complete lot of momentum-swinging in the previous two seasons. After scoring fewer than 40 late shot clock factors in every of his first three NBA seasons, Pritchard almost doubled his buzzer-beater output throughout Boston’s title marketing campaign in 2023-24 with 63 factors on 27 buckets.
He took one other huge leap in 2024-25 with 104 factors on 43 buzzer-beating pictures, then doubled that whole once more in 2025-26 with 89 made area objectives producing 203 factors.
Of course, this exponential progress is partly a results of elevated quantity: Pritchard has set profession highs in total area purpose makes an attempt and factors per recreation in every of the final three seasons, spiking as much as 17.0 factors on 13.8 pictures per recreation this season whereas assuming a bigger position with Jayson Tatum sidelined.
But even with Tatum now again in the fold and Jaylen Brown taking part in like an MVP candidate, Pritchard has remained Boston’s go-to choice at the buzzer: Since Tatum’s return on March 6, Pritchard has a team-leading 47 factors in late shot clock conditions, whereas Brown is a distant second at 24. (Tatum ranks fifth with 14.)
Plenty of eyes will probably be on Tatum and Brown when the Celtics begin their playoff journey Sunday at TD Garden against the Philadelphia 76ers. When the shot clock dwindles, nevertheless, flip your consideration to No. 11, as a result of there is a good likelihood the ball will discover him — and there is a good likelihood he’ll ship.
