Celtics Finish Regular Season Strong and Begin Playoffs on Sunday

BOSTON — The Celtics finished the regular season on Sunday mostly healthy, their seeding decided long ago and beginning a favorable path against the depleted Atlanta Hawks or offensively challenged Orlando Magic next weekend. Those two teams will play-in to face Boston on Tuesday night in Orlando.

Boston’s top six rotation players rested the finale, leaving Payton Pritchard, Sam Hauser and Luke Kornet starting with the back of the Celtics’ bench and two-way contributors joining them in rotation. JD Davison made his debut as a full-time Celtic after officially signing his two-year contract on Sunday. Baylor Scheierman received his second start and the opportunity to play point and fire up shots for most of the night in a 93-86 win. Their 61st win left them only three short of their exalted standing from one year ago.

Early, Boston looked on track to challenge the NBA three-point record (29) after hitting 7-for-14 in the first quarter. That quickly slowed to 6-for-30 until Davison found Jordan Walsh for three with one minute left in what had been a one possession game for most of the fourth. But the larger question, Jaylen Brown and his health, remained in the back all game with others who rested.

Brown missed a third straight game with with a lingering knee injury he received an injection for late last week. Joe Mazzulla said before the game that it was part of his rehab process to be at his best entering the playoffs beginning next weekend, which Mazzulla added that he has 100% confidence in Brown being ready for.

“He makes that call. He knows his body better than anybody,” He knows exactly where he’s at. He knows where he needs to get to in order to be at his best for when it matters most. The most important thing is trusting him and trusting his camp and Drew Moore does a great job with him, our sports science team does. He made the call to put himself in the best position.”

ESPN, who first reported the injection, which Mazzulla wouldn’t specify on, also indicated that Brown’s expected to play when the first round begins next weekend. The Celtics will open the NBA Playoffs next Sunday, the NBA announced, which will allow for 12 days since Brown last appeared for 22 minutes against the Knicks. As noted, Donovan Mitchell played well early last postseason following a PRP injection until it knocked him out midway through the second round against Boston.

The Celtics will practice on Tuesday and Wednesday while the rest of the playoff bracket sorts out. They’ve experienced the play-in uncertainty as a top seed for three straight years now, but as the second seed have the benefit of the earlier result between the two east play-in games. Following the first round, if they advance, they’ll face the winner of a Pistons-Knicks series that’ll likely go long if it reflects their regular season series (3-1 DET).

“A little bit of everything,” Derrick White said. “The coaching staff does a good job of giving us some time off, but also, the practices are highly focused and we get a lot of them. So it’s nothing we haven’t done in the past and just try preparing for whoever our first round opponent is. You never know, it’s one game, anything could happen, just watch the game, figure out who it is and then prepare from there.”

While the depth contributions from Scheierman, Davison and Walsh could bode well toward future roles, the core bench continued their strong finish to the season. Pritchard scored 34 points with seven rebounds and seven assists, shooting 47.2% from the field and 40.7% from three this season and likely securing an improbable Sixth Man of the Year award. Hauser closed the season 44% from three after the all-star break to rise above 40% for the fourth straight year. Kornet emerged as the team’s highest rated two-man lineup partner with Jayson Tatum, and a far more physical player than he was one year prior. He’ll likely step into a more significant playoff role.

Then, the team’s main cast received significant rest in the late stages of the season: three games off for Al Horford over the past week, three for Kristaps Porziņģis in April, Derrick White and Jrue Holiday sat out two of the last three games. All while working the starting lineup back to a +0.0 net rating after beginning the season with a -11.8 net rating through their first 10 games back together.

“You have to be grateful for what’s going on now, but also what was going on in December and January, because it’s all part of the journey,” Mazzulla said.

• The Celtics broke the record they set last year for fewest single-season turnovers in franchise history with 973, down from 979. Shuffling lineups makes that accomplishment all the more impressive, perhaps Joe Mazzulla’s most underrated mark as head coach becoming his desire above all else to get a shot attempt off during every possession rather than turning it over. It’s part of why the Celtics take the first open three.
• The record also reflects Jayson Tatum’s passing growth this season, finishing with 6.0 assists per game, up from 4.7 last year. His continued ability to impact the game with a pass-first mindset following his 6.3 APG last postseason became the team’s most important development this season. Turnovers ticked back up slightly for him this year, but the team’s fortunes improved when his usage increased.
• White, Tatum and Pritchard all broke Isaiah Thomas’ 2017 single-season threes made record, the Celtics hit the most threes by any team in NBA history and on opening night, they tied the single-game three-point record. While most of these shooting records happen as a matter of increased annual volume of attempts, there will come a point where some of them stand, and these Celtics might be the ones who begin to have some staying power on these leaderboards.
• The Celtics finished the year second in offense behind Cleveland, fourth in defense behind the Thunder, Magic and Clippers and second in net rating behind Oklahoma City, who broke the NBA record (+12.7). Their offensive rebounding rate ranked 18th, turnover rate finished second, effective shooting fell to only fifth despite the winter slump and they shot the fewest free throws (19.1), but also allowed the fewest (17.7).
• Boston attempted the most threes in the NBA by more than six per game over second-place Golden State. They finished ninth in three-point shooting and third on twos. They tied for the fifth-most blocks in the NBA, and generated the second-fewest steals despite a renewed effort to force more turnovers (23rd in opp. turnover rate). Opponents shot the second-worst effective field goal (52.3%) behind OKC.
• The Celtics have three players under award consideration, Tatum for MVP as a relative lock for First Team All-NBA, Pritchard for Sixth Man in a two-player race with Malik Beasley and White for an All-Defensive team. White’s defensive impact, particularly in the paint, was staggering this year, but he’s in a crowded field.