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Payton Pritchard’s willingness to take halfcourt heaves is one facet of his game that coach Joe Mazzulla has frequently praised.
Last year during the NBA Finals, Mazzulla told reporters, “You see guys around the league pass up that shot or fake like they want to take it, so that their numbers don’t get messed up.”He gets great satisfaction in winning basketball games.
Even though those shots are entertaining and occasionally have an impact at the end of periods, they are low-percentage chances.
Half-court heaves are more challenging to hit than other 3-point tries since they are taken from a great distance beyond the 3-point line. They still have an impact on a player’s 3-point percentage, though. The NBA is thinking about altering the regulations in that regard.
The league declared on Saturday that it will test a rule change regarding the way half-court heaves are calculated for statistics in the 2025 NBA Summer League.
A missed heave during those games will be considered a missed team field-goal attempt and will not be included in a player’s field-goal attempt statistics.
When all of the following conditions are satisfied, an unsuccessful end-of-period “heave” will be recorded as a team, not an individual, missed field goal attempt. This policy was tried during the 2024 NBA G League season and will apply to all 2025 NBA summer leagues.The unsuccessful attempt at a field goaltweet.com/D2P9fFTUxC
In accordance with the revised regulation, the league specified three requirements for what constitutes a heave:
- The missed field goal was taken within the final three seconds of the first three quarters of a game.
- The missed field goal was taken beyond the edge of the center circle extended. The NBA estimates that the outer edge is approximately 36 feet out from the basket.
- The play the missed field-goal occurred on originated in the backcourt.
Among his many noteworthy halfcourt heaves are two he made during the Celtics’ 2024 championship season. Pritchard claimed that players who are hesitant to take heaves due to the potential impact on their percentages are soft, as reported by Jay King of The Athletic.
psychologically pliable. Pritchard expressed concern about a shooting percentage. It’s really feeble. Your personal shooting % is more important to you than winning. That’s really tender.
Noting that he has witnessed leagues play with a 4-point line abroad, Pritchard stated last fall that he wants the league to consider making heaves worth four points.
Three specified circles are placed beyond the 3-point line in the BIG3, a professional 3-on-3 basketball league that was co-founded by entertainment tycoon Ice Cube. Shots from these circles are worth four points.
The NBA is making every effort to make heave attempts less detrimental to a player’s 3-point percentage, but it is unlikely that the league will introduce 4-pointers anytime soon.
Even with heaves, Pritchard’s career 3-point shooting percentage stands at 39.9%. He won the NBA’s Sixth Man of the Year title last year after shooting 40.7 percent from outside the arc.
Boston.com’s Khari Thompson reports on professional sports. Khari worked as a college football reporter for The Clarion Ledger in Jackson, Mississippi, prior to joining the team in 2022.
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