But no one will ever find a view better than Pritchardâs that night. With four seconds left in the second quarter of Game 5 of the NBA Finals, Mavericks star Luka Doncic stood at the free throw line with his team trailing the Celtics by 18 points.
Pritchard had emerged as a specialist in these late-quarter situations due to his unusual combination of speed, shooting and fearlessness, and Celtics coach Joe Mazzulla had just turned to him in this spot once again, his first appearance of the game.
âHe just knows Iâm capable of hitting those kinds of shots,â Pritchard said.
After Doncic missed the free throw, Celtics forward Al Horford grabbed the rebound, swiveled, and quickly flipped a pass to Pritchard, who took one dribble, pulled up from a few feet behind midcourt, and hoped for the best.
âJust get a shot up and give it a chance to go in,â Pritchard said. âThatâs literally all that was on my mind. Just put it up in the air and get enough room to get a clean look up.â
The ball slid through the net, the TD Garden crowd erupted, and the Celticsâ NBA championship began to feel inevitable. For Pritchard, the shot instantly became indelible, a moment that will appear in NBA Finals highlight reels for decades.
On Sunday, after scrimmaging against USA Basketballâs Olympic team as a member of the USA Select team, Pritchard said that half-court shot and the NBA championship that followed are finally beginning to feel real.
âObviously, I acknowledge it,â he said. âItâs a great shot, something Iâll look at and have forever. But itâs just the timing of it, the ability to step up and hit that shot, I live for moments like that. Probably 20 years from now Iâll be like, âOh, wow.ââ
Pritchard said last monthâs duck boat parade was unforgettable, and he has loved seeing how the Celticsâ championship impacted so many fans. He also called it a âonce-in-a-lifetime type of thing,â before making it clear he hopes it will be recreated fairly soon.
âHopefully, we can win it again,â Pritchard said. âWe havenât really talked about it yet, but that doesnât need to be talked about. Itâs already what we want.
âWeâve got to have an appreciation for what we just did and understand itâs really hard, and look at it like we accomplished something great. But then weâve got to do it again.â
Pritchard said it will be important for the Celtics to maintain their competitive fire when training camp begins in less than three months, so he welcomed the opportunity to come to Las Vegas to sharpen his skills against one of the best basketball teams that has ever been assembled.
The US Olympic team includes NBA legends such as LeBron James, Stephen Curry, and Kevin Durant (who is day to day with a calf strain), as well as Pritchardâs Celtics teammates Jayson Tatum and Jrue Holiday. Tatum is expected to report to training camp Monday after missing the first two days for personal reasons.
In addition to the obvious benefits of playing against such high-level competition, Pritchard said he is focused on extracting as much as he can by simply observing the gameâs greats.
âIâm watching everybody,â he said. âIâm seeing what theyâre all doing, their routines and everything, and Iâm just going from there. Coming out here and competing and seeing where your game is at is a great experience.â
And it is even more enjoyable while basking in the afterglow of an NBA title. Pritchard was thrilled to see some of his veteran teammates win their first championships, but he sounded particularly happy for Mazzulla, the second-year coach who silenced any questions about his future in Boston, and is now widely viewed as one of his professionâs rising stars.
âHe worked extremely hard, so heâs very happy,â Pritchard said. âEspecially this year, he was himself. He just had full ownership of the group, and guys respected him and listened to everything he said. He led us, and now we all want to do it again.â
Adam Himmelsbach can be reached at adam.himmelsbach@globe.com. Follow him @adamhimmelsbach.
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