Mike Gorman prepares to call his final regular-season Celtics game

Under most circumstances, Mike Gorman says, he’s not one to dedicate much time to looking back.

“I’m not the nostalgic type,’’ he says. “Well, not usually.”

That’s understandable. Maybe it’s not that interesting to pause and marvel at history when you’ve been a courtside witness to four decades of it.

Gorman, 76, has expertly called Celtics games on television for 43 seasons, from Bird and the Chief through The Truth and KG to Jayson and Jaylen now. He’s called them on Prism and SportsChannel and currently NBC Sports Boston, among other incarnations of regional sports networks. He called them for 39 years with Tommy Heinsohn until his friend’s death in November 2020, and he’s called them in recent seasons with Brian Scalabrine.

But what’s happening right now is no ordinary circumstance. This is goodbye, or at least the final prelude before his official farewell.

The Celtics’ matchup Sunday afternoon with the Wizards is meaningless on the court, but it means the world to the generations of fans who have grown up listening to Gorman’s understated narration and pitch-perfect catchphrases (”Takes it … makes it! … “Got it!”) through the seasons.

While Gorman will call all of the Celtics’ first-round playoff games, this will be his final regular-season game, and Sunday’s broadcast and game presentation at TD Garden will be filled with this-is-your-Celtics-life tributes to the Dorchester native.

“It really hasn’t really hit me,’’ said Gorman during a conversation last week. “I don’t think it’ll hit me until I really get in a situation where I look up at the clock and see that there’s three minutes left in the game and the Celtics are up by 20 and that this is going to be it. People ask me, ‘What are you going to say?’ and I haven’t the slightest idea, to be honest. I’ve probably thought of 50 different things I could say. So that will be the decision I need to make more at the moment.”

And, yes, he admits, there are moments now where he finds himself feeling sentimental, when a flashback finds him. It happened once recently when he found himself standing at a spot on the parquet where an unforgettable moment in Celtics history occurred, albeit in the old Garden rather than the new one.

“I was talking to somebody the other day and we happened to be standing right in the spot where Isiah [Thomas of the Pistons] tried to throw the ball inbounds and Bird stole it and fed it to DJ [Dennis Johnson] for a layup,’’ he said, referencing one of the most iconic moments in Celtics’ lore, which occurred in Game 5 of the 1987 Eastern Conference finals.

“Those were the days when we [got to call playoff games] through the semifinals. So Tommy and I were doing that game.”

He mentions that for all of the exceptional players who wore the green and white during his time as a broadcaster, his favorite remains Paul Pierce.

“I felt like I got to watch him grow from a boy to a man,’’ Gorman said.

“I saw him have down moments off the court. I saw him nearly lose all for being in the wrong place a long time. But he bounces back. He’s a lovable guy. If you’re around him, he’s a really good guy.”

One of Gorman’s most often-replayed calls involves Pierce hitting a shot in the mug of the Pacers’ Al Harrington during the 2003 playoffs, after the players had been jawing at each other. Pierce loves the call. Gorman, however, has a different feeling for it.

“If you asked me to list my five worst calls ever, I’d have that No. 1, and everybody wants to hear that call,’’ he says with a laugh. “I just didn’t like the whole ‘sticks it in his face’ part.

“But Paul knows the whole thing by heart. He must have watched it 100 times, because he can recite it word for word.”

Gorman says he already knows what he will miss the most.

“I suppose I’ll miss the games to some degree. But I can go to a game if I want to see a game,’’ he says. “What I’ll really miss is the people. I feel like I’ve lived my professional life here in ‘Cheers.’ You want to go where somebody knows your name, where they’re always glad you came. That’s how it’s gone for me, especially this year.

“I’ll miss the fans more than anything else because people have been so plain nice to me all the time.”

There was always something comforting in hearing Gorman call a Celtics game, beyond mere familiarity. His voice is a little softer, and it’s not as easy to quickly identify players as it used to be in the heat of the action. But every game he calls is a reminder of how fortunate we’ve been to have him all these years, through all the eras.

“I always wanted to go out when I was on top,’’ he says. “If I use the reaction of people on the street, I’d say I’ve hit it right in the button.”

In the days leading up to his regular-season farewell, he distracted himself with logistics — figuring out seating for friends and family coming to town, and similar matters to keep his mind off the moment. He may not be the sentimental sort, but he knows he will be emotional when the tributes begin.

“I’m not sure how I’ll handle it,’’ he said. “I’ve got a 15-month-old granddaughter who’s going to be here. I told my daughter that I want my granddaughter with me when I walk out on the court. I’ll walk out with her in my arms and that will distract me enough that I won’t start crying.

“Like I said, I’m not nostalgic, but for some reason I cry. My wife teases me that I cry at commercials. It’s going to be hard to get through the whole day Sunday without having a moment or two. Forty-three years is a long time, and I hope everyone knows I’ve appreciated every minute.”