The Boston Celtics' 2022-23 regular season is in the books.
The Celtics wrapped up their campaign Sunday with a 120-114 win over the Atlanta Hawks. Head coach Joe Mazzulla wisely opted to rest his starters in the finale, though Derrick White played the first five minutes to make him the only Celtic to appear in all 82 games this season.
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SIGN UP HERE With the starters out, the role players got a chance to shine. Payton Pritchard and Sam Hauser put on a 3-point shooting clinic and finished with 30 and 26 points, respectively. Big man Mike Muscala got in on the action with a career-high 27 points and eight rebounds while hitting four 3s of his own.
Six Hawks players scored in double figures including ex-Celtics Garrison Mathews and Bruno Fernando, who both tallied 19 points.
The Celtics finish the season with a 57-25 record and await either the Hawks or the Miami Heat in the first round of the NBA playoffs next weekend. Before we turn the page to the postseason, here are our takeaways from their Easter Sunday victory.
C's flirt with franchise 3-point record
It was clear from the get-go that the C's were set on raining 3s all game long. Their first 11 field goal attempts of the day were 3-pointers and they drained six of them.
It was Pritchard (9-16 3PT), Hauser (8-14), and Muscala (4-7) leading the charge from beyond the arc. Thirteen of Pritchard's 3-point attempts came in the first half.
Boston finished 25-for-54 from deep and flirted with a couple of franchise records in the process. The Celtics record for made 3s is 28 and for 3-point attempts is 59. Moral of the story, this C's team is deep with shooters and that bodes well for them with the playoffs looming.
Payton Pritchard notches triple-double
Pritchard returned from injury with a season-high 22 points in Friday's win over the Toronto Raptors and topped that mark with a career-high 30 on Sunday. But he made his presence felt with more than just his scoring.
The 25-year-old racked up 14 rebounds (career-high) and 11 assists for the first triple-double of his career.
"I'm really happy for him. I have the utmost respect for him," Mazzulla said after the game.
If nothing else, this was a statement from Pritchard that he can be an impactful player when given an opportunity. He might not get many chances in the postseason, but it still looks like the young guard's future is bright whether it's in Boston or elsewhere.
Sam Hauser gives fans an encore
After putting on a show on Friday, Hauser gave the fans at TD Garden an encore in the season finale.
Hauser followed his career-high 26-point performance with another 26-point outburst on Sunday. There weren't any highlight-reel dunks this time around, but the sharpshooter was on fire from beyond the arc
He added six assists and five rebounds, plus an emphatic block to make up for his lack of dunks. As he told our Abby Chin after the win, the performance from him and the rest of the reserves showed they're capable of taking a load off the starters' shoulders in the playoffs.
"If a guy needs to step in and play a role for a few minutes here or there in the playoffs, we'll be able to," he said. "We're always ready when our number is called, and that's our job. So that's it."
The Celtics will sit back for the next week and await their first-round opponent.