Payton Pritchard left Doc Rivers reeling after ‘gut punch’ buzzer-beater

The Milwaukee Bucks prepared for this.

They knew how dangerous Payton Pritchard could be when he came from 3-point range, especially in late quarter HIV situations. They used prep time to make sure Pritchard didn’t beat them, despite being a bench player on a Celtics team that has Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown and two other top-50 starters.

“It’s so funny — it’s not — but this morning I was literally circling his name,” lamented Bucks head coach Doc Rivers. “I thought, ‘This guy comes in and he’s a game-changer.'”

Rivers was right about that.

Pritchard was, in Brown’s words, “a killer” against Milwaukee on Monday night, hitting eight of his 12 threes to lead the Celtics to a 119-108 victory at TD Garden. His sixth triple beat the buzzer in the third quarter and helped turn what had been a close game — the Bucks led at halftime and were within a basket for most of the third — into a comfortable victory for the undefeated C’s.

It was the latest buzzer beater from a player who buried several during the Celtics’ championship run, including one in Game 5 of the NBA Finals, and it made Rivers look downright defeated. The former Celtics coach had his hands on his knees as Pritchard took an inbound pass from Tatum and sprinted past Bucks guard Delon Wright, then lowered his head to the floor as the shot went in.

Because, again, the Bucks had prepared for this.

“We had to channel him to the middle. We talked about that this morning,” Rivers told reporters. “At the end of the quarter, he’s always trying to break right. We went over that. So it wasn’t a Pritchard reaction. It was more my reaction that it was something we covered and we were there and we just let him go. Just when he went right, I didn’t know if it would go in. I just didn’t think good things were going to happen, and they didn’t.”

Fittingly, Pritchard referred to the shot as “a gut shot,” and said he’ll always attempt them regardless of his shooting percentage because he knows they can lead to “crazy” momentum swings.

Bucks star Damian Lillard confirmed that containing Boston’s backup point guard was a pregame focus for Milwaukee, which saw him hit five 3-pointers in a Celtics-Bucks game last season.

“We talked about it before the game started, like we can’t let him come in and have that type of impact on the game,” Lillard, who has known Pritchard since the latter was an Oregon middle schooler, told reporters. “And he came out and had that type of impact on the game. … He’s a hard worker, he’s a believer and he’s going to believe in himself even if he’s missing shots.

“But if you let him come in and get a couple of clean looks and get a layup or whatever, he’s going to have that kind of impact on the game, especially when he’s done it for a championship-winning team. The belief comes to be there even more. We talked about it and we just didn’t do a good enough job of not letting that happen.”

Pritchard finished with 28 points on 10-of-14 shooting in 28 minutes and added five rebounds, three assists and two steals. His production helped the Celtics withstand a lackluster first half from Tatum and Brown (who came alive after the break to finish with 30 points) and a third straight DNP for fellow bench scorer Sam Hauser, who has been sidelined with lower back pain.

Since going 1-for-9 in Boston’s season opener, Pritchard is shooting a sublime 62.1% from beyond the arc (18 of 29) and must be among the very early favorites for the NBA’s Sixth Man of the Year. His 19 made threes were tied for the league lead on Tuesday.

“He’s just tough,” Rivers said. “Kind of a tough guy. He’s that little pest that just gets under everybody’s skin, that keeps coming. Worn, smart. But he’s skilled. He shoots the hell out of the ball. He’s got a knack for stripping guys on rebounds. He knows how to play basketball. He’s perfect for that team.”