Celtics bench closes out Kings in first inconsequential regular season game

The regular Boston Celtics demolished the Sacramento Kings on Friday night. Kristaps Porzingis, Jrue Holiday, and Al Horford’s nights were done after the third quarter, and by the time Jayson Tatum checked out for good with 9:24 left in the fourth, Boston was up by 14 points.

They had taken care of business, and the Stay Ready group was left to see things off. But the Kings weren’t done.

Sacramento, who is fighting to earn a top-six seed in the West, pounced on the chance to earn a win over backups. De’Aaron Fox and Domantas Sabonis each played over 40 minutes, and the former exploded in the final frame.

Fox poured in 12 fourth-quarter points, leading the Kings on a massive surge. With 27 seconds left in the game, he drained a three that gave Sacramento their first lead since the first quarter.

Joe Mazzulla let the bench unit close it out.

“This was fun,” Mazzulla said when asked his thoughts when the bench was attempting to stave off the Kings’ comeback. “This is awesome. Couldn’t simulate a better environment of stress, pressure, [and] chaos.

“It’s the perfect environment to execute. So, that’s why when those guys are in, you hold them to the same standard [that] you hold everyone else to. I thought they did a great job just making plays.”

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A lineup of Payton Pritchard, Svi Mykhailiuk, Oshae Brissett, Sam Hauser, and Xavier Tillman finished the game for Boston. It wasn’t a blowout. There was no predetermined ending. They battled against what head coach Mike Brown deemed to be the best possible lineup at the time.

As Fox scored bucket after bucket, the Celtics offense remained stagnant. Pritchard hit a three with 6:44 left in the game, and they didn’t make another field goal for 6:37 of game time.

But they fought.

”I think we got great looks. We just didn’t hit them,” Pritchard said. “If we hit one of those threes that most of those guys are capable of hitting, obviously, that looks different. And we were trying different things defensively, going 1-5 switching, which can be tough with a guy like Fox.”

And they won.

“At the end of the day, we pulled out a W, and that’s what matters most,” Pritchard said.

After a flurry of buckets completely changed the tone at TD Garden, the bench-mob Celtics found themselves with a chance to reset the vibes.

Sam Hauser, who shot an abhorrent 1-of-18 from the field (and 1-of-13 from deep), fumbled away a floater in the lane with 12 seconds left. Keegan Murray snagged the rebound, but Hauser, fighting off the woes of his disastrous evening, tipped the ball out of his hands.

It found an eager Tillman on the wing, and he drove into the lane, put up a floater, and sunk it.

“It felt good,” Tillman said of his shot, grinning from ear to ear. “As soon as it left my hand, I knew it was good.”

Brown called a timeout, Fox missed a mid-range jumper, and the Celtics fended off a pair of put-back attempts to seal the win. In a game where they led by as many as 19 points, it felt as though they stole a victory.

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Tillman was mobbed by his teammates as he walked off the court. TD Garden roared with glee as Boston’s 61st win of the season came in less-than-standard fashion.

The Celtics clinched the best record in the NBA on Wednesday with their win over the Oklahoma City Thunder. Games don’t have playoff implications to them anymore. So, they have to find their own.

Mazzulla let the bench guys figure it out on Friday. Not because he had to, but because he wanted to.

“He’s the ultimate competitor,” Tillman said of Mazzulla. “It makes it easy for us to know that there is only one job when we go out there, and that is to win. However, you can impact that game. That’s your job. It makes it easy when you have a coach who, no matter what, wants to win.”

Boston didn’t need this win. They could have waltzed their way to the finish line and let the Kings improve their place in the West standings. It would have quite literally made no impact on their year.

They just wanted to win for the sake of winning. Pure competitiveness. Boston decided to rip the hearts out of Kings Nation.

“I enjoyed it,” Pritchard said. “They had something they were fighting for. I know our seeding is pretty locked up. But every opportunity we have, every game we have – I don’t like losing. I don’t think anybody likes losing. So, we’re trying to win, and obviously, we’re working on things, but winning is the biggest priority. Always.”

The Celtics’ regular season is over. But games like this can make April fun.