Buzzer-beater P: How Pritchard Became Nba's Top Late-shot-clock Scorer

Buzzer-Beater P: How Pritchard became NBA's top late-shot-clock scorer originally appeared on NBC Sports Boston

Ask an NBA fan about Payton Pritchard, and chances are they’ll bring up the 2024 NBA Finals, when the Celtics guard buried halfcourt buzzer-beaters in Game 2and Game 5 to help Boston dispatch the Dallas Mavericks and raise Banner 18.

Those two heaves were undoubtedly Pritchard’s most famous shot clock beaters. But they certainly weren’t his last.

Over the last two regular seasons since that Finals victory, Pritchard has scored a whopping 307 points on 132 made field goals in “late shot clock” situations, which the NBA defines as zero to four seconds on the 24-second timer.

In 2025-26 alone, Pritchard poured in 203 points on 89 for 204 shooting (43.6 percent) in late shot clock situations, leading the entire NBA in all three categories.

Pritchard didn’t edge out his All-Star competitors in these categories, either; he lapped the field. Here are the top five total point scorers in late shot clock situations this season:

1. Payton Pritchard, Celtics: 203 points
2. Jalen Brunson, Knicks: 175 points
3. Kevin Durant, Rockets: 160 points
4. Jamal Murray, Nuggets: 152 points
5. James Harden, Cavaliers: 140 points

Pritchard’s 89 late shot clock field goals were 11 more than the next-closest player (Brunson, 78). And despite that high volume, he remained impressively efficient, shooting 43.6 percent from the field and 35.7 percent from 3-point range on buzzer-beaters. (For context, Harden was a woeful 24 percent on buzzer-beater 3s, making 24 of his league-leading 100 attempts.)

Seeing Pritchard’s name ahead of perennial All-Stars at the top of these buzzer-beating leaderboards is certainly eye-opening. But it shouldn’t be a surprise to Celtics fans who have watched the ball find its way to Pritchard like a magnet as the shot clock expires.

That’s no coincidence, either: Pritchard prides himself on delivering when his team is in a time crunch.

“It’s a momentum play,” Pritchard told 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 whole lot of momentum-swinging in the past two seasons. After scoring fewer than 40 late shot clock points in each of his first three NBA seasons, Pritchard nearly doubled his buzzer-beater output during Boston’s title campaign in 2023-24 with 63 points on 27 buckets.

He took another massive leap in 2024-25 with 104 points on 43 buzzer-beating shots, then doubled that total again in 2025-26 with 89 made field goals producing 203 points.

Of course, this exponential growth is partly a result of increased volume: Pritchard has set career highs in overall field goal attempts and points per game in each of the last three seasons, spiking up to 17.0 points on 13.8 shots per game this season while assuming a larger role with Jayson Tatum sidelined.

But even with Tatum now back in the fold and Jaylen Brown playing like an MVP candidate, Pritchard has remained Boston’s go-to option at the buzzer: Since Tatum’s return on March 6, Pritchard has a team-leading 47 points in late shot clock situations, while Brown is a distant second at 24. (Tatum ranks fifth with 14.)

Plenty of eyes will 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, however, turn your attention to No. 11, because there’s a good chance the ball will find him — and there’s a good chance he’ll deliver.