
The Celtics beat the Pelicans on Friday night to fully solidify the No. 2 seed in the Eastern Conference playoffs.
The Boston Celtics rolled over the New Orleans Pelicans 144-118 on Friday night at TD Garden, hitting 29 three-pointers as they improved their record to 55-26 with one regular season game to play.
As a result of the win, the Celtics also officially wrapped up the No. 2 seed in the Eastern Conference playoffs, meaning that they'll play either the Toronto Raptors, Philadelphia 76ers or Orlando Magic in the first round. The three of them are all possibilities for the No. 7 seed.
While the win obviously had team-wide importance to the Celtics, it also was fun in that it helped produced history on multiple fronts.
Neemias Queta continues to get it done
Queta played only 13 minutes, but he he had 10 rebounds in those 13 minutes, also scoring seven points. As noted by Taylor Snow, Queta is just the third player in team history to have a season with at least 600 rebounds, 100 blocks and 60 steals. He joins Robert Parish and Dave Cowens. Parish did it seven times.
Queta, 26, from Utah State, has had a breakout campaign in the absence of Kristaps Porzignis and Al Horford. With increased minutes also as a result of Jayson Tatum's most-of-the-season injury, he's averaged 10.2 ppg and 8.4 rebounds. He is shooting 65.3 percent from the field and will continue to be a big part of what the C's do in the playoffs.
About that shooting
You name it, the Celtics did it:
As noted by Celtics stats on social media, the C's scored 80 points or more in the first half for the fourth time this season. That's an NBA record for the most 80-point first halves in a season.
The C's also tied the NBA record with 29 three-pointers, and the 17 three-pointers in the first half tied the franchise record as well.
Unfortunately, Derrick White didn't have a block, meaning he has just one game left to make some incredible NBA history, but he'll try to get it done on Sunday against the Orlando Magic (6 p.m. ET).
Also in the win
--Because he's still not cleared to play back-to-back games, Jayson Tatum didn't play. However, Jaylen Brown did, scoring 23 points on 8-of-13 shooting.
--Sam Hauser actually led the way in scoring with 24 points, hitting eight three-pointers, while Payton Pritchard had 21.
--Nikola Vucevic and Luka Garza each had 14 points. It was certainly important for Vucevic to gain some rhythm, as he's played just three games since breaking his finger on March 6.
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