Celtics clip Hawks in season finale; Pritchard sets bar with triple-double

In the regular season finale, the Boston Celtics won against the Atlanta Hawks, which could be a preview of the first round of the playoffs.

The Celtics are locked in the No. 2 seed and the Hawks are in 8th place and will be in the Eastern Conference Play-In Tournament.

The Celtics had listed all five starters on the injury report as Jaylen Brown had a laceration on his right finger, Al Horford had lower back stiffness, Marcus Smart had a left neck spasm, Jayson Tatum had a left hip contusion, and Robert Williams III was listed with left knee soreness. Thankfully, the Celtics had nothing to play for so they were all listed as out. Sixth Man of the Year candidate Malcolm Brogdon was also listed as out with lower back pain.

The starters for the Celtics were Derrick White at point guard, Payton Prichard at shooting guard, Sam Hauser at small forward, Blake Griffin at power forward, and Mike Muscala at Center. White was the only regular starter who played in this game and is the only Celtic to play all 82 games this season. This is only the 7th time that a Celtic had played in all 82 games in the last 17 seasons and the first time since IT did it in 2015-16.

The Celtics ended their season with 57 wins on the season, and Joe Mazzulla became the 2nd winningest Celtics first-year coach in history only behind the legendary player-coach Bill Russell with 60 in the 1966-67 season. This is also the most wins the C’s have had in a season since the 2008-09 season where they had 62.

The Celtics have now swept the season series against the Atlanta Hawks in which they won on March 11 and November 16.

Boston Celtics Player of the game: Prich with the Triple-Double

Payton Pritchard notched his first career triple double in only his 3rd start of the season, He also started in the loss against the Miami Heat on January 24 and the loss against the Indiana Pacers on December 21, 2022.

Prichard had his career high in points with 30 points with 14 rebounds and 11 assists. Prichard joins elite company as he’s only the third C’s player to have 30+ points, 14+ rebounds, and 11+ assists in the same game joining Larry Bird and John Havlicek.

Prichard was 9/16 on three-pointers and he joins James Harden as the only players to have 9+ three-pointers while having a Triple-Double in the same game. James Harden went 9/16 on three-points with 53 points, 16 rebounds, and 17 assists with the Houston Rockets on the December 31, 2016 win against the New York Knicks.

Boston Celtics Play of the game: Oppin to Luke Kornet

JD Davison who got significant minutes for the only time this season dished it on an alley-oop to Luke Kornet.

Davison had 8 points, 3 assists and 2 rebounds while Kornet scored 12 points for his 7th game in double-figures this season and had 7 rebounds, 6 assists and a steal in the win.

This is Davison’s best play of the season as he has not played much this season despite the numerous times that C’s have been short this season as he’ll look to grow next season.

The Boston Celtics will play the winner of the Heat-Hawks 7th seed game for the Play-In Tournament for the first round of the Eastern Conference playoffs.