BSJ Game Report: Celtics 132, Wizards 122 - Pritchard sets another career-high, C's finish with 64 wins

Everything you need to know about the Celtics' win over the Wizards in their regular-season finale, with BSJ insight and analysis.

IN A NUTSHELL

Svi Mykhailiuk came out hot, scoring 12 points to fuel a four-point first-quarter lead. Payton Pritchard scored 16 in the second to put Boston up 10 at the half. Sam Hauser scored 13 to join the fun in the third as Boston’s lead got as high as 23. Pritchard got some help from Mykhailikuk and Neemias Queta to hold the Wizards off for Boston’s 64th win of the season.

Box Score

HEADLINES

- 64 wins! That's the fourth-most in Celtics history. Only the 1973, 1986, and 2008 teams won more games. Two of those teams won a title and the third was a John Havlicek injury away doing the same. This is a historically good team. It was also Joe Mazzulla’s 121st win in two seasons. 

- Pritchard putting up points: His 38 beat his career-high 31, set two days ago. When Pritchard gets full control against lesser competition, he looks like a freakin’ All-Star. He is way too good for games like this, as evidenced by his 38 points, 12 assists, and nine rebounds. 

- Celebrating Mike Gorman: I’ll get more into this separately. This was a very special day for one hell of a guy. 

- Playoff picture set: It’s Philadelphia vs. Miami in the 7/8 game and Atlanta vs. Chicago in the 9/10. The Philly/Miami winner will face the Knicks. The loser faces the Atlanta/Chicago winner to determine the eighth seed. 

TURNING POINT

Pritchard scored 14 points over 2:15 to close the first half, turning a tie game into a 10-point halftime lead. They carried that momentum into the third, where they built the lead into the 20s.  

THINGS I LIKED

- Svi Mykhailiuk: He came out blistering hot and hit 10-13 from the field, including this very loud alley-oop. 

He finished with 26 points, five rebounds, and five assists. He’s part of what the Celtics call the “stay ready” group (if you stay ready, you don’t have to get ready), and they take that seriously 

“We have really good players – five, six All-Stars,” he said. “You gotta understand the bigger goal and see the bigger picture and come with that mindset and just come in, work and just mentally be prepared for whatever.”

- Pritchard: Not much more to say about him after these last two games. He’s been great. 

- Sam Hauser: Yes, I’m putting him up here because (a) he didn’t let his cold shooting impact the other areas of his game. He had two assists, five rebounds, two steals, and a blocked shot. And (b) he didn’t let the cold start get him down. In fact, he hit a couple in a row to get up to 36.4% shooting for the night. Not ideal, but he stayed with it and didn’t let it impact him too much. 

- Neemias Queta: Aside from me appreciating some of the old school post game he flashed, he’s been pretty good defensively. He had 19 points but also six blocked shots. Signing him to the upgraded contract was probably a good idea. 

- Jordan Walsh: Got his first NBA start. Not his best offensive night but he got a couple of steals and he probably should have gotten a foul call on one of those dunk attempts. 

- Phil Pressey’s opportunity: After the last game, Jermaine Bucknor got the back-of-bench opportunity. Today, it was Pressey, also a player-enhancement coach, who got the seat. 

“They do a lot with the assistants as far as getting the games ready for our next opponent, so they are very rarely able to live in the present because they are always living for the next game to help us get games downloaded, and so even sometimes during our game, they are watching another game to have it ready,” Joe Mazzulla explained. “So they are the first piece to our scouting and our game plan and execution. So that’s why they are very, very important. 

“I wasn’t fortunate enough to have that position, but my first year, I was in the same room as the guys that had that job, and that’s where I really learned the league. The vocab, the language, situational basketball, all that stuff, you’re seeing it from a different perspective. So I’m actually kind of jealous of them because I think they actually have the best job in the long-term of their career, but it’s great to have them.”

THINGS I DIDN’T LIKE

Let’s take today off on this one. It’s the last day of the regular season. 

HIGHLIGHTS

ONE TAKE KARALIS WILL PROBABLY REGRET LATER

- This could be a fun playoff run

We still don’t know who the opponent will be next Sunday, but I’m fine with any of them. Beating the Sixers is always fun. Beating the Heat is probably what the guys in the locker room would prefer. Beating the Hawks starts them on the same path as the ‘08 champs (hopefully in fewer games). And beating the Bulls would be … well, beating the Bulls. You can’t make a story out of everything. 

Cleveland or Orlando in the second round is a tough hit for us beat writers, but it does present some challenges for the Celtics. 

We’ll see how the rest of the playoffs go, but the potential to go through New York and have Celtics-Knicks as the Conference Finals is kind of fun. I’ll take Miami/Orlando/New York. If they go to Philly instead of Miami, that works for me, too. 

 Also, it shouldn’t be too difficult for Boston. There's a chance for a lot of downtime in these playoffs. 

Next up: The Celtics await the results of the play-in tournament this week. Game 1 of the first round will be played Sunday.