“We just had to challenge him to the middle,” Rivers said of his response. “We talked about it this morning. At the end of the quarter he always tries to break off well. We have gone beyond that. And so it wasn’t a Pritchard response. It was more my reaction. This was something we talked about, we were there and we let him go.

“When he went right, I didn’t know he was going in,” Rivers said. “But I just didn’t think good things would happen. And that didn’t happen.”

Pritchard said the buzzer-beaters can hit like a gut punch, which is why he takes them. A brand’s momentum swings are “crazy,” he said.

“I just live for those moments when the clock is running out and I think there are six seconds left,” Pritchard said. “So to get to a spot and raise, I blacked out in those moments and let it fly. It is clear that it takes me a lot of time.”

Pritchard’s shooting set up the Celtics’ offside game. Boston missed the first seven shots of the game. Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum were a combined 1-for-12 from 3-point range. Al Horford went 2-for-2 and Jrue Holiday went 4-for-7, bringing the team percentage to 38 percent.

“I try to go into every game with the confidence to be aggressive,” Pritchard said. “Looking for opportunities to attack, to fire my shot. And then just pick up defensively and be like a pest.

“Obviously I’m not the biggest person in the world, so I’m not going to be able to drop low or things like that,” Pritchard added. “It’s really just about the energy I have to get off the bench. On some evenings our starters may have little energy. It’s a long season. So I have to be responsible for bringing it that night.”

Khari A. Thompson

Sports reporter

---

Khari Thompson covers professional sports for Boston.com. Before joining the team in 2022, Khari covered college football for The Clarion Ledger in Jackson, Miss.

---