The Boston Celtics Are Now Officially The New 3-Point Kings Of The NBA
Brian Babineau. Getty Images.Well, that was certainly more like it. After the collective stinker in the first game back from their perfect 6-0 West Coast trip, last night's performance was much more along the lines of what I think most of us expected to see when we saw the schedule. KD out, at home, coming after a loss, the Suns defense being terrible, it all added up to an ass kicking and you'll never believe this but that's exactly what happened.
Now 19-2 after losses on the season, if there's one thing you can usually rely on when it comes to this team, it's how they respond after tasting the agony of defeat. Dating back to last season, the Celts really don't lose 2 games in a row. It's one of their best traits in my opinion, and if we're being honest they sort of did need to cut the shit and stop losing these games at home to inferior opponents. 13 home losses is kind of gross if we're going to be objective about it, so it was great to see them get back to the regularly scheduled programming and go belt to ass for a stress free blowout.
It was also a night of NBA history, one that started with Al Horford tying Wilt Chamberlain in consecutive rebounds
That's my GOAT. You may think Karl Malone's record is out of touch, but you'd be wrong. Al Horford is playing forever. He's never retiring. Ever. So the joke's on you for even thinking that was going to be a possibility. Be better.
Then we had Derrick White, who you know, only has now done something that no player in the history of the NBA has ever accomplished. Go ahead, pick a name from any team and any era. Go nuts. None of them, not a single one has ever done what we just watched Derrick accomplish
Reminder, he's a point guard.
But of course, the story of the night is our beloved Celtics becoming the new 3PT Kings of the NBA.
Advertisement
Understand the Celtics just made this history with 5 games to spare. They'll most likely add close to another 100 3PM before the regular season ends, so this number should finish just under 1,500. That's insane.
But then you see the list of the top 5
1. 2025 Celtics
2. 2023 Warriors
3. 2024 Celtics
4. 2019 Rockets
5. 2023 Celtics
Let me ask you something, what seems familiar with all those teams? Ah yes, Mazzulla Ball. It has completely taken over NBA history. Remember how, years ago, people claimed the Celtics were trying to become the Warriors of the East? And that it wouldn't work because they didn't have Steph and Klay?
Update. Not only did they do it, but they are better. As you can see above, the Mazzulla Ball Celtics own this stat. They've had 3 of the best 3PT shooting seasons in NBA history in 3 consecutive seasons!
The question, is does playing this way translate to wins? It's a valid question, given they've committed so much of their approach to this system.
So, since 2022-23, who has the most wins in the NBA? Oh right, that would be the Boston Celtics with 178 (next closest is OKC with 161).
But that's the regular season. Who has the most playoff wins over that span? That's when things really matter, and your offense has to be good enough to win during that time. Oh right, that would also be the Boston Celtics with 27 (next closest is DEN with 23).
OK fine, but did they ever win the title? Oh right,
Elsa. Getty Images.Alright, so let's recap
1. Joe Mazzulla and Brad Stevens are responsible for 3 of the top 5 best 3PT shooting seasons in NBA history, including the record
2. Playing this way has resulted in the most wins in the NBA over this timespan
Advertisement
3. It has also resulted in the most playoff wins
4. It has also resulted in a championship
Now, call me crazy, but that's prettayyy pretttaayyyyy prettttayyyyyy pretty good.
All things considered, not a bad night at the Garden. Just 3 more wins away from back to back 60 seasons for just the 2nd time in my entire life, please take a moment and appreciate what you are watching. This is not normal. There are fanbases that wait their entire lives for a team and a run like this.
With that said, let's begin.
The Good
- It's fair to say that from here on out, all eyes are on Jaylen Brown's knee. How could they not be? The details around what's going on are still so vague it's hard to know how to feel. On one hand, he's clearly in pain and it's clearly an issue. Given how important he is to this team and their playoff run, that's not great.
On the other hand, he's going out and doing shit like this despite having a flat tire
Back to back solid performances from Jaylen, the efficiency has been there (10-16, 3-4), his FTs have been solid (8-9), and the production has been to the level you need from your #2 option. But when you watch him it's very obvious something is going on, so while you want to relax and take a deep breath because he's playing well despite the pain, it's hard because watching him you can see he's limited.
Before the game, I wondered if he was playing in these games as a way to figure out how to be effective and manage the pain. That maybe he knew it wasn't going away and couldn't get worse, so the team was using these game reps as a way to figure that out. After the win, Jaylen pretty much confirmed that
Advertisement
Advertisement
Again, I don't know how to feel after that presser, but it sure isn't "great". That part about how he wishes he could tell us more details? Uhhhhh what? I don't love that. But then talking about how he's adjusting and picking his spots and will manage is encouraging. You watch his game last night and you could see that in real time. His patience on drives, the way he used his size and pace to pick his spots at the rim. How he got to the midrange. That was all Paul Pierce.
With this in mind, I'm going to choose to overdose on copium and remain optimistic about this knee issue. I'm interested to see how it looks against a much tougher defense as the Suns provided zero perimeter resistance, but I watched Jaylen look like Playoff Jaylen in this win, so there's reason to remain positive. Is it cope? You bet your fucking ass it is, I'm trying to see this team win back to back titles and Jaylen is a crucial part of that.
- Coming off a loss, you expect the team to bounce back (they did), and usually that means guys like Jayson Tatum, who may have been coming off a stinker, will also bounce back (he did)
Ho hum, just another night of Jayson Tatum doing some shit we haven't seen since Larry Bird. This was his 12th game of at least 20/8/8 on the season, the most since Larry had 15. There was some melting down on my timeline last night about Tatum's shooting, but he did finish 9-18 from the floor. Sure he was 1-8 from deep, but his misses weren't all that terrible. My stance is he should be taking even more 3s despite being in this rut. It's the shot and the threat that opens up the rest of his arsenal and creates the driving advantages, which Tatum continues to thrive in.
There seemed to be a lot of this "I can't handle another inefficient Tatum playoff run" going around, and I just don't get that way of thinking. Was nobody paying attention these last two postseason runs? If we get the exact same Tatum as the 2023-24 run, they'll be fine, and that guy shot sub-30% from 3PT. Please take a deep breath.
That's not to say his outside shooting hasn't been gross, the percentages are the percentages. I'm just here to tell you it's not that big of a deal for Tatum when you realize his role/how he's guarded. The shooting percentages of the "others", the off-ball shooters is FAR more important than Tatum's 3PT given he's going to have the ball pretty much on every possession in the playoffs. Remember, no matter how poorly Tatum is shooting, teams are ALWAYS going to guard his pull up. Nobody, and I mean nobody is going to have the approach of giving Jayson Tatum multiple wide open looks from deep. Whereas if other guys are cold, perhaps teams change their defense to bait them into shooting. That is NOT ever going to happen with Tatum.
So really, it doesn't matter all that much if Tatum is shooting 29% from deep or 34%. The threat of the shot is enough to keep the defense honest, and that's all Tatum needs to lower his shoulder and get to the rim. So if you're someone who wants Tatum to start driving more, what you really need to have happen is for him to continue to take his pull up at a high rate, even with the misses. If he catches fire, great. If not, defenses still have to guard it because of the simple threat of him catching fire.
Advertisement
To me, that's why I'm not even remotely concerned about his 3pt slump. I would certainly prefer at least a league average percentage, but when I think about how this team will operate in the playoffs, Tatum's 3PM are just the cherry on top. We know this, because we just watched it on the way to a championship.
- For a guy that didn't score in the first half and only took 2 shots, it's rather impressive that Derrick White finished with 12/9/7 on 4-9 (4-8) and a team high +28
It was great to see Derrick finally snap out of his shooting funk given his C&S 3s are some of the most important shots the Celtics take. When he's locked in as an off ball shooter, there's no guarding this team. Add in his off the dribble pull up, and that's a guy who's ready for the playoffs.
Given DWhite had shot under 30% from deep in three straight games, and 9 of his previous 13 heading into last night, he's weirdly been in a funk ever since that 9-17 explosion against the Blazers in early March. So to see his jumper look so pure in this win was certainly more than welcomed, and I'm not sure if that was the best part of his night or when he was incorrectly assigned a tech
Advertisement
Either way, I loved pretty much everything about Derrick's performance on both ends of the floor (outside of his entry pass turnover problem). He's really been passing the ball well as of late (52 assists over his last 7), so that's something to keep an eye on, and we should all do our part and say some prayers that his jumper is rounding into shape at the perfect time.
- Early in this game the Celts were killing the Suns with math. For whatever reason the Suns decided it was a good idea to try and beat the Celts by trading 2s for 3s, and unfortunately for them that's not how math works and they found themselves down 20 before they could even blink.
As the game went on they tried to flip the script and take away the 3 which is fine, because the Celts also happen to be an elite paint/rim scoring team if that's how they have to win. They still dropped 123 points despite taking only 39 3PA in their 87 FGA. For those who think "all the Celtics do is shoot 3s", here you go. One day you'll understand it's not about the 3s, it's about whatever the right shot is at any given moment.
The beauty of Mazzulla Ball is it can morph into whatever a game needs. Sometimes that's 3s, sometimes that's post ups, sometimes that's P&R, sometimes that's isolation. Joe has been telling everyone this for years, my advice would be to listen to him
- Another fantastic Luke Kornet showing off the bench with 12/4 on 5-7 in his 15 minutes, he's unironically turned himself into a starting caliber center. Think of how insane this development is. From basically out of the league to being a legit valuable piece to a title favorite. The fact that it couldn't be happening to a better person is what makes me love it even more. Luke Kornet deserves the world. He took a paycut to come back and the Basketball Gods are rewarding him with the season of his life.
We already know he's the best offensive rebounder in the NBA. His two man game with Tatum trails only Jokic/Murray in terms of points per possession. He protects the rim SO much better than previous seasons. Above all of that, what I continue to love most about Kornet is his processing speed. It's fast as fuck. The way he understands the offense perfectly and where the passes are before it's time to make them is so important for a big man in this system I can't stress it enough. To win at a championship level, you need to be fast processors. Quick decisions are crucial, and those decisions better be right.
This is why I feel like Kornet fits so well with any lineup. He knows his role, he knows what to do with the ball and he knows how to maximize his spacing.
- Was I certain that KP broke his face when he caught that elbow? Yup. A random elbow causing a random injury to KP? We all thought it was possible
Advertisement
Thankfully, it didn't end up being all that serious
From a basketball standpoint, it wasn't like the Suns had any defensive solution for KP, so we got more of the same from him in terms of production. Another example of why a healthy KP is the ultimate cheat code. The way he raises this team's ceiling on both ends of the floor is so important. When he's healthy and on the floor, I'm not sure there's a team on Earth that can match that level, and then do it 4 out of 7 times.
It's partially why I'm ready to shut him down. We're so close to the playoffs, he's in fine basketball shape, and a healthy KP is too valuable that it's not worth the risk in games that mean nothing. Play him in one of the B2Bs and then call it a regular season.
- 28 AST and only 7 TOs while also winning the rebounding battle. Loved that. Winning the margins are important, and the Celts were nails across the board when it came to taking care of those. Good from the FT line too (86%), won points in the paint, etc. That tells me they had good mental focus.
The Bad
- It's hard to really complain about a game the Celts led by 25 and were never really threatened, so a lot of this it nitpicking at the end of the day.
For example, I'm still extremely annoyed with the fact that nobody on this roster can throw an entry pass. This is like the 60th blog I've written this, and frankly, I don't know if I'll ever be able to stop. It's something so trivial I get it, but collectively, they should not be this bad.
Advertisement
- If there's one thing I didn't love about Jaylen's knee issue, it's how he was moving defensively. Not good. Now it's hard to know if that's now the baseline or if he wasn't going 10000% in a game like this which I would understand, but I need a better defensive effort against teams with a pulse in the playoffs.
It's possible he's able to manage offensively but maybe the side to side movement defensively is where the issue is. He has to be able to guard his yard, so that was concerning. We'll just have to see how it looks over the next few games to see how real it is.
- Outside of his rebounding which was solid, another off night for Sam Hauser. Just 2-6 (1-5) in his 21 minutes, if he needs a rest day here soon then give it to him. He's a guy who's 3P efficiency does matter, so if this is a tired legs or a sore back situation, rest him.
The Ugly
- Slim pickin's for this section, so how about the fact that this was either the 3rd or 4th game recently where we've seen Joe Mazzulla have to waste both of his challenges on absolutely blatant calls. I hate the rule that you lose your challenges for being right, and it's at the point where this is happening so frequently that something has to be going on. I don't know what, but every single night we're seeing this bullshit.
Needing to burn a challenge because of THIS only makes me think these bozos have a weird anti-Tatum fetish or something
You have to be out of your mind to call that a goaltend, so of course that's what happened. Like I said, it's every game with this bullshit.
A nice little date with the Wizards is up next, so my guess is this will be a rest game for most before the NYK/ORL back to back but at the end of the day just put the Maine Celtics out there and see if they can get you those 3 wins to secure the 60 win season. Let Baylor Scheierman, Jordan Walsh, and JD Davison cook. They're ready.