Washington Wizards @ Boston Celtics
Sunday, April 14, 2024 at 1:00 PM ET
TD Garden, Boston, MA | Game ID: 22301186
Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Final
BOS 34 35 38 25 132WAS 30 29 30 33 122
ESPN UpdateESPN Update
Payton Pritchard scores career-high 38 points in Celtics' 132-122 win over Wizards
BOSTON -- — Payton Pritchard scored a career-high 38 points and the NBA-best Boston Celtics rested their entire starting lineup in a 132-122 victory over the Washington Wizards on Sunday in the teams’ regular-season finale.
Svi Mykhailiuk added 26 points and Sam Hauser 16 for Boston, which sat Jayson Tatum , Jaylen Brown , Kristaps Porzingis , Derrick White and Jrue Holiday along with top reserve Al Horford .
Pritchard added 12 assists with nine rebounds. In last year’s final regular-season game, the 6-foot-1 Pritchard had a triple-double with 30 points, 14 rebounds and 11 assists, joining Larry Bird and John Havlicek as the only Celtics with at least 30 points, 13 rebounds and 11 assists in a game.
He picked up his ninth rebound with 5:22 left in the game and played the rest of the way.
“If it came, I'll take it. But I got one last year,” he said, smiling. “It wasn't like I had pressure to get my first triple-double. I'm a pretty good rebounder. So if I get the minutes, I think I'll be able to get another triple-double.”
The Celtics (64-18) finished their 15th season in club history with 60 or more wins, the most recent in 2008 when they captured the NBA title.
Having lost Game 7 at home against Miami in the Eastern Conference finals last spring, anything less than a trip to the NBA Finals this year would very likely be viewed as a disappointment.
“The most important thing getting into a situation is having no expectations,” Boston coach Joe Mazzulla said of the upcoming postseason. “If you study teams that have even been fortunate enough, and if we're fortunate enough to get to a Finals, if not win it, the road there is always forgotten by the result of winning.”
The Wizards (15-67) ended their third straight season and fifth in the past six without a playoff berth. Eugene Omoruyi led them with a career-best 26 points and Jared Butler had 22 in their sixth straight loss.
“I think we developed a lot of resilience and we developed a competitive atmosphere, and we learned about the process; what it takes to be a really good team," Wizards interim coach Brian Keefe said. "We've still got a lot of work to do, but I think we started laying the foundation for that.”
Pritchard played all 82 games this season. He scored 14 points in the final 2:19 of the opening half, connecting on all four of his 3-point attempts to give Boston a 69-59 halftime edge.
At halftime, the Celtics honored TV play-by-play announcer, Mike Gorman, who is retiring after his 43rd season calling their games. There were many tributes on the Jumbotron from former Boston players and folks around the NBA during timeouts.
UP NEXT
Wizards: Season over.
Celtics: Await their first-round playoff opponent for next Sunday.
WAS KarmaHide StintsShow StintsHide PMShow PMHide KarmaShow KarmaHide ScoresShow Scores
Who
Who is who
the initials in the Players column
BOSDP D. Peterson
JD J. Davison
JS J. Springer
JW J. Walsh
LK L. Kornet
NQ N. Queta
OB O. Brissett
PP P. Pritchard
SH S. Hauser
SM S. Mykhailiuk
XT X. Tillman
WASAG A. Gill
CK C. Kispert
DA D. Avdija
EO E. Omoruyi
JB J. Bernard
JB J. Butler
JC J. Champagnie
JD J. Davis
PB P. Baldwin Jr.
BOS/WAS the team itself, not a player
-- the feed named nobody
What
What happened
the codes in the Events column
M2 / M3 made 2 / made 3
X2 / X3 missed 2 / missed 3
FT / X1 free throw made / missed
AST assist
OR / DR offensive / defensive rebound
STL steal
BLK block
TO turnover
FL foul
OF offensive foul — ends the possession
VIOL violation
JUMP jump ball
TM timeout
IR instant replay
HE heave at the buzzer, filed to the team
Where
Where a shot came from
the middle field of M3.LW.25
RM at the rim inside 4 ft
RC right corner
RW right wing
SO straight on
LW left wing
LC left corner
M3.LW.25 made 3, left wing, 25 ft
X2.RM.01 missed 2, at the rim, 1 ft
When
When it happened
the Offset column
one number per event, in the Events order:
whole seconds from the start of the
possession to that event
Events FL X3.RC.23 OR M2.RM.01
Offset 0 18 22 24
the foul opens the possession at 0s;
the putback ends it at 24s, which is
the possession's own Dur