Al Horford Shares Conversation with Payton Pritchard Before Game 5 Buzzer-Beater

En route to Banner 18, Celtics guard Payton Pritchard became the first player to make two buzzer-beaters from at least 30 feet in the NBA Finals, according to Stathead, which began tracking this in 1997-98, also known as the play-by-play era.

PAYTON PRITCHARD FROM DOWNTOWN TO BEAT THE 3Q BUZZER 😱🚨#NBAFinals presented by @YouTubeTV
🏆 Game 2 on ABC 🏆 pic.twitter.com/hF8eIT3sW9

— NBA (@NBA) June 10, 2024

The one he hit in Boston’s championship-clinching win in Game 5 against the Mavericks was from 50 feet, making it the furthest buzzer-beater in the NBA Finals in the play-by-play era, per the NBA.

"Here's Pritchard he loves these… puts it up from halfcourt at the buzzer… BANG… HE'S DONE IT AGAIN!" https://t.co/dWXM1HVj4D pic.twitter.com/EtcSju6Gn0

— NBA (@NBA) June 18, 2024

“I never practice those in my life,” conveyed Pritchard while sitting in a barber chair alongside Al Horford and Derrick White at Gillette’s World Shaving Headquarters for Gillette’s traditional ‘championship shave.’ “I just feel like I got deep range, and I find a spot that I can get it there, and I just believe, I guess. So, will it in. I guess that’s the secret.”

Horford, whose locker is near Pritchard’s, looked over to his teammate and shared, “It was funny because before the game, remember, we were talking about how many dribbles you could take, how many seconds, how many dribbles you could potentially take, and we were talking about it, and I was like, ‘Well, just to be safe, don’t over-dribble.'”

Horford also praised the former Oregon Duck for burying Game 5’s buzzer-beater with Luka Doncic flying towards him to contest his shot.

Al Horford says that before Game 5, he and Payton Pritchard were discussing how many dribbles he can take before getting a buzzer-beater off in time. Horford told him, “just to be safe, don’t over-dribble.”

He praised Pritchard for burying a 30-footer with Luka Doncic flying… pic.twitter.com/zyhaFdG9LH

— Bobby Krivitsky (@BobbyKrivitsky) June 24, 2024

That shot seemed to represent the knockout blow that kept Dallas from getting up off the mat as Boston’s dominant display on the TD Garden parquet that night propelled the franchise back to the NBA summit.