Celtics expose one of NBA's biggest problems in dominant win over Pelicans

With their dominant win over the New Orleans Pelicans on Friday, the Boston Celtics are officially locked into the Eastern Conference's second seed. They'll await the winner of the seventh vs. eighth place Play-In Tournament game next Tuesday to find out who their first round opponent will be.

Whoever it's going to be will be far more formidable than the Pelicans, who Boston stomped behind strong efforts from Jaylen Brown (23 points and three rebounds), Sam Hauser (24 points, six rebounds, four assists, and eight threes made), and Payton Pritchard (21 points, 10 assists, and three rebounds), as they tied an NBA record with 29 made three-pointers on the night.

Here's what stood out:

This game should not have been played

There’s no greater way to entice you to read about this game for me to lead with the fact that it actually should’ve never happened. What should’ve went down, instead, is both teams sending three representatives to midcourt, agreeing on an outcome, shaking hands, and then going their separate ways.

Both organizations entered the evening hoping for the same result -- a Celtics win.

Boston wanted to secure the East’s second seed, while New Orleans wanted to make up ground in their tank race with the Memphis Grizzlies and Dallas Mavericks, who both had one more loss than the Pels.

It sure looked like they were playing for the same thing. The Celtics took all of six minutes to build the double-digit lead that they’d hold on for the entire night. Boston’s advantage ballooned to as many as 41.

For perspective on how ridiculous this game was, Boston had called just one timeout up until the 2:46 mark in the third quarter. New Orleans had called five to that point.

I've never been a "fix tanking" guy, but this game at least made me understand why people care so much about the issue.

Neemias Queta is a stretch big now

You read that right. Neemias Queta can now officially be labeled as a stretch big (kind of kidding). No. 88 sank his first career three-pointer midway through the third quarter.

Prior to the above make, he was 0-10 from beyond the arc this season. I wouldn’t count on him firing any long-range attempts during the playoffs, but it made for a cool moment in an uninteresting game.

Another strong Vucevic showing

Any positive from Friday should probably be taken with a grain of salt, but Nikola Vucevic played his second consecutive solid game for Boston. The big man’s shot continued to fall after he finally found his rhythm in New York.

He looked comfortable in low-usage offensive spots, which is ultimately what is going to be asked of him here.

Vuc finished the night with 14 points, five assists, and four rebounds on a crisp 5-7 from the field.

Rotation minutes for Hugo Gonzalez and Luka Garza

Both Hugo Gonzalez and Luka Garza have been glued to Boston’s bench as of late. Joe Mazzulla has leaned more on Jordan Walsh off the bench, and Vucevic’s return has eaten Garza’s playing time alive.

The pair got some rotational minutes against the Pelicans, which could serve as a nice tune-up for any possible playoff usage.

Gonzalez finished with seven points, four rebounds, and an assist in 25 minutes, while Garza totaled 14 points, six rebounds, and an assist in 16 minutes