Payton Pritchard stood near the center of the court with the clock winding down in the second quarter of Game 5. He caught the pass, took two dribbles, and let it go from well beyond the arc. The ball went in as the horn sounded. Boston led by 21 at the break. The crowd noise hit like a wave. Teammates rushed him. The Mavericks looked stunned. From that point on the Celtics never really let the game get close again. They won that night and wrapped up the series shortly after. It had been sixteen years since the last title. A lot of people in the stands that night were too young to remember 2008 clearly, or hadn’t been born yet. Pritchard’s shot gave them something concrete to point to—a moment when the building felt like it was going to lift off the ground—and a few days later they got the bigger moment they’d been waiting for. Sometimes the story of a championship is written in the loud, obvious plays. Sometimes it’s written in a half-court heave by the guy who just checked in. ...