Don't look now, but Jayson Tatum and Marcus Smart are coming up from way downtown.
With Stephen Curry on the cusp of passing Ray Allen and setting the NBA record for career 3-point field goals, ESPN's Tim Bontemps on Monday examined the Celtics' 3-point records Monday and highlighted a couple of interesting tidbits. Namely, Tatum and Smart are fifth and fourth, respectively, on the Celtics' all-time 3-pointers list, and both have Allen in their sights.
"Both Jayson Tatum (fifth) and Marcus Smart (fourth) have a chance to move past Ray Allen on Boston's all-time 3-point makes list -- with Tatum, currently 42 behind Smart, likely to wind up ahead of both of them by season's end," Bontemps wrote.
Per Basketball-Reference, Allen hit 798 3-pointers in his Celtics career. Smart has 712, and Tatum has 677. Tatum has averaged 188 3-pointers in the previous two seasons, and Smart has averaged 118 over the previous three campaigns. Barring long-term absences, both likely will pass Allen by the end of the regular season.
However, Smart and Tatum will have to wait until at least next season before they can target second place, which Antoine Walker holds with 937 3-pointers in his Celtics career.
As for the record, that belongs to Paul Pierce, who made a whopping 1823 3-pointers for Boston. Smart and Tatum both will have a long way to go before they come within the same zip code as Pierce.
