Payton Pritchard Receives New Nickname At Boston Celtics Parade
To win a championship in any sport, you need your role players and bench support to step up at big moments. While former Oregon Duck star Payton Pritchard didn't get a ton of minutes in the 2024 NBA Finals against the Dallas Mavericks, he certainly made his time on the court count.
Pritchard averaged under 20 minutes per game in the Finals, and in the clinching Game 5 win, he played only one minute.
In that game, he took only one shot as well, but he made it — a half-court buzzer-beater at the end of the second quarter to put the Celtics up by 21 points. Because of that shot, though, Pritchard has received a new nickname in Boston.
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"Heave Gawd" is the new moniker for the Celtics guard.
That was not the only half-court shot that Pritchard hit in the finals, with another one coming from earlier in the series. However, this one in Game 5 was easily the most important, as it acted as an early dagger for the Mavericks that they were never able to come back from.
How long the nickname will stick is unknown, but for now, it's awesome to see Pritchard get his flowers after winning his first NBA championship.