Payton Pritchard scores 34 points in Celtics’ 93-86 regular-season ending victory over Hornets
Payton Pritchard scores 34 points in Celtics’ 93-86 regular-season ending victory over Hornets
BOSTON (AP) — Payton Pritchard scored 34 points on Sunday and the Boston Celtics swept consecutive home games against the Charlotte Hornets with a 93-86 victory despite blowing a 21-point first-half lead in a regular-season ending matchup of all reserves.
Sam Hauser added 15 points for Boston (61-21), which begins the defense of its NBA title in the playoffs next weekend. Pritchard scored 12 in the final quarter.
Josh Okogie and Jusuf Nurkic each scored 14 points for the Hornets (19-63), who lost their seventh straight.
Neither team played any of their regular starters.
The Celtics played all their regulars Friday — except Jaylen Brown — and won by 36 points. Brown missed the final two games to rest his troublesome right knee that’s been bothering him for a month or so.
Charlotte’s Seth Curry didn’t play and finished the season hitting 45.6% on 3s. On Friday, he slipped ahead of Sacramento’s Zach LaVine and became eligible for the league’s top percentage by making his 82nd.
It was the second time this week the Celtics sat out their top six players. They also did in a 20-point loss at Orlando on Wednesday.
Takeaways
Hornets: Lost 12 of their final 13 and haven’t made the playoffs since 2016.
Celtics: Completed their second straight 60-win season, the first back-to-back since 2007-08 and 2008-09 when they won the title and lost in the East semifinals, respectively.
Key moment
Pritchard, a strong candidate for the NBA’s Sixth Man award, had nine points in the first quarter when Boston opened a 19-5 edge in the opening six minutes.
Key stat
Boston made 14 3’s, increasing its NBA record for a season to 1,457. The Celtics passed the previous high this month, set by Golden State two years ago.
Up next
The Hornets are done. The Celtics await their first-round playoff opponent for next weekend.
___
AP NBA: https://apnews.com/hub/nba
By KEN POWTAK
Associated Press
