Celtics
The lights dimmed, the spotlights swirled, and Mike Gorman sat at center court ready to address the TD Garden crowd for the last time as the Celtics’ play-by-play announcer.
Tributes for Gorman poured in throughout the day. Mayor Michelle Wu, who had declared Sunday as “Mike Gorman Day” in Boston, attended the game. The Celtics played a video featuring shoutouts from Danny Ainge, Doc Rivers, and TNT’s “Inside the NBA” crew. The crowd screamed Gorman’s signature catchphrase “Got it!” in unison.
The 132-122 win over the Wizards marked the final regular-season broadcast of Gorman’s 43-year career, and the Celtics sent the Dorchester native out with a moving moment when they named the Garden’s TV broadcast table after him during a halftime ceremony.
“You know the song from ‘Cheers’ where they say you want to go where everybody knows your name?” Gorman said. “That’s the way that TD Garden is for me. It’s the place you go where everybody knew my name, and the relationships I’ve been able to develop with everybody who works in this building, that’s the biggest part of it for me.”
Gorman appeared to be cool, calm, and collected for most of the ceremony, but got a little choked up while remembering longtime broadcast partner Tommy Heinsohn, the Hall of Famer who died in November 2020.
Gorman recalled the moment when he asked Heinsohn to join the broadcast team, after tracking down Heinsohn and setting up a lunch meeting.
“So I show up, we have lunch to make it short,” Gorman said. “He takes a look at the contract I had and it had the per-game fee. He crossed that out and doubled it, and put another number on top, looked at me, and said, ‘Mike, how’s your health insurance situation looking now?’ An hour later, I walked out of that restaurant with a signed contract from Tommy Heinsohn for twice the money we wanted to offer him and a $10,000 life insurance policy. He was always closing. That opened the door for me and introduced me to the remarkable personality.
“I will get misty if I try to talk about Tommy. I think about him every day.”
Celtics co-owner Steve Pagliuca called Gorman “the kindest person in the organization.” Coach Joe Mazzulla shared memories of chatting with Gorman on road trips.
“In the back of the plane my first couple of years, I would always walk back there and we would have certain conversations,” Mazzulla said. “Just listening to his insight, listening to his insight. I think just his humility and his ability to connect with different people and then just being the voice of the team.
“He has a distinct voice. Whether it’s on TV or in person it sounds the same all the time. So, honored to get to know him and honored to be a part of his last few days here at the Celtics.”
Gorman’s final games behind the microphone will be in the Celtics’ first-round playoff series, which opens next Sunday at TD Garden.
Pritchard goes the distance
Payton Pritchard was the only Celtic to play in all 82 games this season. He scored a career-high 38 points in the finale, to go with 12 assists and nine rebounds.
“It’s definitely a big accomplishment for me,” Pritchard said. “Like I said before, to play 82 games is tough. But, through the summer, the work I put in to get my body ready for that but also just the journey for me last year and my second year — there were times that I didn’t play at all.”
“How frustrating that is and how much that hurt at times just fueled me to keep working. For this year to come and play 82 games and be a part of the best team in the NBA and try to do something special feels good.”
Pritchard finished the season averaging career highs of 22.3 minutes, 9.6 points, 3.4 assists, and 3.2 rebounds per game.
“He makes himself available every game,” Mazzulla said. “He’s competitive, wants to win, always ready to play. So, I really appreciate his growth as a player, what he’s done for our team, and how he’s brought his game to a whole other level. It’s a credit to him.”
Taking care of business
The Celtics ended the season at 64-18, good for the NBA’s best record and the top seed in the Eastern Conference heading into the playoffs.
“You treat every game the same, handle winning and losing the same and be open-minded toward getting there and competing at a high, high level,” Mazzulla said. “I think for the most part we’ve approached the season with a business-like approach and they’ve wanted to get better every single day. Just trying to continue that heading into the playoffs.”