Celtics’ 25 3s scorch Hawks in regular-season finale

Boston -- The Hawks allowed a season-high in three-pointers Sunday in a 120-114 loss against the Celtics.

Atlanta finished the regular season with a 41-41 record. Here are five observations from the regular-season finale:

1. The Hawks sat out four of their five starters and sixth man Bogdan Bogdanovic. Lone starter De’Andre Hunter had 14 points early before he and Saddiq Bey were eventually shut down for the remainder of the game.

Those moves allowed the team to gave their young reserves extended minutes ahead of the team’s Tuesday matchup against the Heat in Miami in the first game of the Eastern Conference play-in tournament.

2. The Hawks have struggled to defend the perimeter this season and the Celtics have several players capable of shooting from outside. Unfortunately for the Hawks, those two things were on display in a big way Sunday.

Boston’s first eight attempts from the floor came from outside -- and five were successful. They continued to fire away despite the Hawks slowing them down temporarily in the second quarter.

When it was all said and done, the Celtics hit 25 three-pointers (the most allowed by the Hawks this season) on a whopping 54 attempts. Several came on wide open looks as the Hawks were slow to close out defensively.

3. Boston’s Payton Pritchard gave the Hawks the most trouble as he scored a career-high 30 points on 10-of-21 shooting from the floor. Nine of his 10 field goals were three-pointers.

Pritchard also picked up his first career triple-double by adding 14 rebounds and 11 assists while playing all but two minutes in the game.

4. With Clint Capela out for the afternoon, the Hawks had a huge lift from Bruno Fernando. The 24-year-old center came off the bench and looked aggressive in his first stint. Fernando scored five quick points off the bench and ended the first half with 10 points.

Fernando ended the night with a double-double (19 points, 10 rebounds).

5. In addition to a big afternoon from Fernando, the Hawks got a lift from Garrison Mathews who knocked down four of his 11 shot attempts from 3. Mathews has infused shooting off the bench for the Hawks during his brief stint in the team’s rotation when the Hawks did not have both Dejounte Murray for a pair of games, as well as Hunter.

Mathews has also given the Hawks plenty of presence on the defensive end with his relentless pursuit of his matchup. The 26-year-old started the second half for the Hawks with both Hunter and Bey sitting out the remainder of of the afternoon.

Stat to know

Fernando has reached double figures in a game for the 16th time in his career, and for the fifth time in a half.

Quotable

“I think the biggest thing is for them to compete and not not approach it in a different way.” -- Quin Snyder pregame on what the players available should focus on.