Boston, Massachusetts (AP) – In the teams’ regular-season finale on Sunday, the NBA’s top Boston Celtics defeated the Washington Wizards 132-122, led by a career-high 38 points by Payton Pritchard. The Celtics started the game with all of their starting lineup rested.
Boston, who rested Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown, Kristaps Porzingis, Derrick White, Jrue Holiday, and top reserve Al Horford, added 26 points from Svi Mykhailiuk and 16 from Sam Hauser.
Pritchard contributed nine rebounds and 12 assists. The 6-foot-1 Pritchard, along with John Havlicek and Larry Bird, became the only Celtics with at least 30 points, 13 rebounds, and 11 assists in a game when he recorded a triple-double in the final regular-season game of the previous year.
The Celtics (64-18) have won 60 or more games in 15 of their club’s history, their most recent being in 2008 when they won the NBA championship.
HAWKS 115, PACERS 157
INDIANAPOLIS (AP) – With 31 points from Myles Turner and 28 from Pascal Siakam, Indiana defeated Atlanta and avoided going to the play-in round.
NEW YORK (AP) – With his 11th 40-point performance, Jalen Brunson wrapped up one of the best regular seasons in team history and led New York to victory over Chicago in overtime, securing the No. 2 seed in the Eastern Conference.
The Knicks had their finest season since finishing 54-28 and securing a No. 2 seed in 2012–13, when they ended 50–32. After the Bucks’ Sunday loss in Orlando, they pushed past Milwaukee and will now await the winner of Wednesday’s play-in game between Philadelphia and Miami.
With his 40 points, 8 rebounds, and 7 assists, Brunson equaled Patrick Ewing for the second-most 40-point games by a Knicks player in a single season. In 1984–85, Hall of Famer Bernard King accomplished this feat 13 times, setting a
118 HEAT, 103 RAPTORS
Miami (AP) – With the help of 18 points and 10 rebounds from Thomas Bryant and another 18 points from Jaime Jaquez Jr., Miami defeated Toronto to prepare for a trip to the play-in round.
For Miami, Bam Adebayo and Tyler Herro each scored 17, while Jimmy Butler, Caleb Martin, and Delon Wright scored 15, 12, and 11 for the Heat.
Wright added five steals to Miami’s 46-36 victory, which was just good enough for eighth place in the East. The Heat will go to Philadelphia on Wednesday to begin the play-in round; the victor will be assigned the seventh seed.
