A triple from the own field for history and other records of the NBA final

There were four seconds left until halftime. Luka Dončić had made a basket and had an extra shot due to a foul by Jayson Tatum. The Mavericks had the chance to get a little closer to the Celtics before going to the locker room. Boston coach Joe Mazzulla decided to put Payton Pritchard on the court. In the third game of the finals he had made a stratospheric triple at the buzzer at the end of the third quarter. His mission was to try to repeat it, as if it were easy. She did not repeat it, but surpassed it. Dončić missed the free throw, Al Horford grabbed the rebound and handed the ball to Pritchard. Time was running out, he bounced the ball once, took a few steps (ahem, maybe a few too many) and shot from his own field with only a few tenths of a second left. The horn sounded as the ball traveled the 15 meters away, but the ball went in. It was the knockout blow of the NBA final.

“Payton is one of the best competitors and one of my favorite people in the world. Just the way he competes, his professionalism and his ability to take pride in things like that. This year he has grown a lot as a player and has become a complete player on both sides of the court, and he has made us win games,” Mazzulla said after the game. “I think he has made us win moments. You know, as the playoffs“Obviously some patterns change and things change, but those guys have to win moments in games for you, and Payton has done it twice for us,” he added.

Since the 1997-1998 season when play-by-play games began to be recorded, it is the longest three-pointer achieved in an NBA finals. That is just one of the records left by these finals. Here are some of the other milestones:

Record of titles. Boston has won its 18th NBA championship, breaking a 17-all tie with the Lakers (who added part of those titles in Minnesota and others in Los Angeles), making the Celtics the most successful team in the league.

Same date. The Celtics have won their first NBA title since the 2007-08 season and their second since the 1985-86 season, when Larry Bird won his third ring. Boston’s 2007-08 championship also closed with a home victory on June 17 (in that case, a 131-92 victory over the Lakers in Game 6).

Different champions.The Celtics are the sixth NBA champion in the last six seasons. The only other case with six different NBA champions in a six-season span was between the 1974-75 and 1979-1980 seasons.

Winning percentage. Boston has had 16 wins against three losses in the playoffs, including the finals. That’s a percentage of 84.2%, the ninth best in a season. It’s the second-best winning percentage since the first round expanded to a best-of-seven format in the 2002-03 season, behind the 2016-17 Golden State Warriors, who have the best winning percentage in a season ( 16-1, 94.1%). Throughout the season and the playoffs, Boston has had 80 wins and 21 losses (79.2%). It is the second-best single-season record in franchise history, behind the 1985-86 Celtics (82-18, 82.0%).

New champions. All the players on the Celtics roster have won their first NBA championship ring except for guard Jrue Holiday, who is already a two-time champion. Holiday won his first championship with the Milwaukee Bucks in 2021.

On the seventeenth. Celtics center Al Horford has won his first NBA championship in his 17th season in the American professional league. He is the fourth player to win his first NBA championship in his 17th season or later, joining Juwan Howard (18th season), Kevin Willis (18th season) and current Dallas head coach Jason Kidd (17th season). . The Dominican Horford has achieved it at 38 years old.

Young coach.Boston coach Joe Mazzulla, 35, is the youngest coach to win the NBA Finals since the 1968-69 season, when Bill Russell, 35, led the Celtics to the championship as player-coach.

Regularity award. The Celtics are the first team to have the best record in the regular season (64 wins versus 18 losses) and win the NBA Finals in the same season since 2016-17, when the Golden State Warriors did so.

Impossible comeback. Teams that win the first three games of a series playoffsThe best-of-seven team now has a 157-0 record, including 15-0 in the NBA Finals. Coming back from 3-0 down remains an impossible mission.

Defensive strength. Boston has achieved 26 wins and no losses this season (including playoffs) when holding opponents under 100 points. This is the highest number of wins in a season without a loss when the opponent does not reach 100 points since 1971-72, when the Milwaukee Bucks achieved a record of 32-0 in this type of game.

Tatum surpasses Kobe.Jayson Tatum is now the player 26 years old or younger who has scored the most points in playoffs(2,711 in 113 games), surpassing Kobe Bryant (2,694 points in 119 games). LeBron James is third on the list of scorers aged 26 or younger (2,578 points in 92 games).

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