Rain showers early with a steady, soaking rain later in the day. Increasing winds. High 61F. Winds S at 20 to 30 mph. Chance of rain 100%. Rainfall near a half an inch..
Overcast with rain showers at times. Low 51F. Winds SW at 10 to 20 mph. Chance of rain 70%.
Updated: April 11, 2026 @ 2:15 am
BOSTON (AP) — The Boston Celtics flirted with a piece of NBA history in Friday night's 144-118 win over the New Orleans Pelicans.
They didn't quite get it, but did lock up something even more valuable: The No. 2 seed in the East in the upcoming playoffs.
The Celtics tied a franchise and NBA record with 29 3-pointers, equaling their total from Oct. 22, 2024 set against the New York Knicks. The Memphis Grizzlies (April 6 vs. Cleveland) and Milwaukee Bucks (Dec. 29, 2020 at Miami) also share the record.
When Hugo Gonzalez tied the mark with 1:20 remaining in the game, the TD Garden crowd began chanting, “One more three!" and rose to their feet.
“It’s easy to be aware of it when you hear the crowd and everything,” Payton Pritchard said when asked afterward if he was aware how close they were to the record. “Maybe they’ve got to be quiet and we can break it one day.”
Boston had three chances to break it in the final minute. First, Luka Garza passed up on an attempt and drove in for a dunk. After Garza blocked Jeremiah Fears' layup on the Pelican's ensuing possession, Baylor Scheierman missed a 3 from the wing off the back rim.
New Orleans' Derik Queen was fouled and hit a pair of free throws with 27 seconds to play, giving the Celtics on final chance. But coach Joe Mazzulla instructed his team to hold the ball and they took a shot clock violation with 1 second remaining.
Eight different Celtics players had at least two 3-pointers in the game. Big man Neemias Queta even got in on the action for Boston, knocking down his first career 3 to go along with 10 rebounds. Queta's 3 caused the entire bench to jump up in celebration.
Sam Hauser, who led Boston with 24 points and eight 3-pointers, called Queta's make “Buttery.”
The missed record aside, Pritchard said it was a still a night to savor because of what it said about how far this team has come.
At 55-26, Boston has now achieved at least 50 wins in each of coach Joe Mazzulla's first four seasons. And this year's team did it after the departures of former starters Jrue Holiday, Kristaps Porzingis and Al Horford, and without Jayson Tatum for all but 16 games this season. It's something many outsiders predicted would relegate the Celtics to the draft lottery.
“You set back and have an appreciation for the work that we've put in, and the growth that we've made this year to get to this point, and the honor of reaching a top seed when many people didn't believe in that," said Pritchard, who finished with 21 points, 10 assists and five 3-pointers. “You take that in and now take a couple of days and get back to work. We've got something else to prove now.”
AP NBA: https://apnews.com/hub/nba
Copyright 2026 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
Please purchase a Premium Subscription to continue reading.
To continue, please log in, or sign up for a new account.
We offer one free story view per month. If you register for an account, you will get two additional story views. After those three total views, we ask that you support us with a subscription.
A subscription to our digital content is so much more than just access to our valuable content. It means you’re helping to support a local community institution that has, from its very start, supported the betterment of our society. Thank you very much!
Only subscribers can view and post comments on articles.
Already a subscriber? Login Here
Dirk van Ulden said:
I am trying to figure out who Bobby Lee is. Why shouldn't we have a special day for Mark Olbert, another confused individual?
CoastalBoy said:
Success! An email has been sent to with a link to confirm list signup.
Error! There was an error processing your request.
Sorry, an error occurred.
Already Subscribed!
Cancel anytime
Thank you .
Your account has been registered, and you are now logged in.
Check your email for details.
Submitting this form below will send a message to your email with a link to change your password.
An email message containing instructions on how to reset your password has been sent to the email address listed on your account.
No promotional rates found.
Secure & Encrypted
Thank you.
Your gift purchase was successful! Your purchase was successful, and you are now logged in.
| Rate: | |
| Begins: | |
| Transaction ID: |
A receipt was sent to your email.
(0) comments
Welcome to the discussion.
Log In
Keep the discussion civilized. Absolutely NO personal attacks or insults directed toward writers, nor others who make comments.
Keep it clean. Please avoid obscene, vulgar, lewd, racist or sexually-oriented language.
Don't threaten. Threats of harming another person will not be tolerated.
Be truthful. Don't knowingly lie about anyone or anything.
Be proactive. Use the 'Report' link on each comment to let us know of abusive posts.
PLEASE TURN OFF YOUR CAPS LOCK.
Anyone violating these rules will be issued a warning. After the warning, comment privileges can be revoked.