Four Reasons The Celtics Crushed The Pelicans, Including Something No Team Has Done

The Celtics were so hot on Friday night, the Pelicans needed to borrow Artemis II's heat sheild after it splashed down

Apr 10, 2026; Boston, Massachusetts, USA; Boston Celtics guard Payton Pritchard (11) during the second half against the Boston Celtics at TD Garden. Mandatory Credit: Winslow Townson-Imagn Images | Winslow Townson-Imagn Images

The Boston Celtics and New Orleans Pelicans played a close game at TD Garden in Boston … for about three minutes. Three minutes after that, the Celtics were up eight. And then three minutes after THAT, they were up 15. It got to 20, then 30, and then eventually 40.

They won the game 144-118. Here are four reasons why they won

They couldn't miss from three

The Celtics are now the only team to hit 29 three-pointers in a game twice. The Celtics made almost as many three-pointers as the Pelicans took (32). Sam Hauser was 8-12. Payton Pritchard was 5-9. Eight Celtics hit multiple three-pointers. Even Neemias Queta hit one.

“Obviously, you have to make shots, but I think [it was] just good execution,” Joe Mazzulla said after the game. “I like the shots that we got, and we were able to make them, and obviously, once [Hauser] sees a few go in, he continues to do that. So hopefully we didn't use them all up in one game.”

They out-scored the Pelicans by 60 from beyond the arc. Which brings me to …

The Pelicans couldn't hit from three

The Pelicans hit nine three-pointers, just one more than Hauser.

“We had wide open threes and we didn’t knock ours down in the 1st half,” Pelicans interim head coach James Borrego said. “So that got away from us. But, you know, they do this at a high level, and that’s why they are competing for a title.”

There is zero chance of winning a basketball game when the other team hits 20 more three-pointers.

New Orleans sat eight guys

Zion Williamson, Saddiq Bey, Herbert Jones, Trey Murphy III, Karlo Matkovic, Yves Missi, and Dejounte Murray all sat out for New Orleans. The Celtics were missing Jayson Tatum.

The Pelicans played Josh Oduro, who is so unknown that the NBA’s official box score doesn’t have a photo of him.

Instead of the Pelicans, they should be called the New Orleans Owls, because every time they sub someone in, people say “who? WHO?”

I’m sorry about that. I’ll let myself out. Go ahead and continue reading on your own.

The Celtics bench was on fire

Boston got 75 points out of their bench, led by Payton Pritchard’s 21, but also double-digit scoring from Nikola Vucevic and Luka Garza (14 each), and Hugo Gonzalez (10). Not bad for a bench that's 16th overall in scoring, averaging 37 points a game.

Max Shulga (0 points in 5:36) was the only Celtic who played and didn’t score. Every other Celtic who played made at least three baskets