BOSTON — If you’ve watched the Celtics play basketball under head coach Joe Mazzulla, you know they like to hoist threes.
In fact, no team but the Golden State Warriors (who roster the greatest shooter the NBA has ever seen) has attempted more since Mazzulla took over as Boston’s head coach in September 2022. It’s a clear mentality the Celtics have taken on, with more shots from beyond the arc meaning more opportunity for points.
It’s simple. It just doesn’t always work.
That much was very clear Tuesday, as Boston shot just 31.6% from three while dropping Game 5 to the Philadelphia 76ers at TD Garden. The 12-for-38 performance wasn’t even an example of shooting too much, as Boston has had far worse showings. The issue on Tuesday was Boston’s insistence on continuing to hoist the ball despite watching Philadelphia extend its lead while Al Horford — who was 0-for-7 from long range — put on a brick laying exposition. While some players adjusted more quickly than others, the lack of ability to knock down shots led to the Celtics looking as out of whack as they have in quit some time.
“We definitely need to get more organized,” Jaylen Brown said following the loss. “If we maintain our spacing — I feel like we got the same looks over and over again. We got a lot of open looks. We didn’t make shots tonight. But I think we can be better and we will be better.”
The Celtics did find things that worked following the horrid shooting start. Boston shot seven more free throws than Philadelphia and seemingly controlled the pace of game throughout stretches in the third quarter, which is something Mazzulla liked.
“We shot more free throws. We shot more threes. We didn’t shoot a great percentage,” Mazzulla said. “I’ll have to take a look at our shot quality but I thought we were getting relatively — really good looks. We missed 10 wide-open threes in the first half, which feels a little bit different than our normal selves.”
There is a fix that needs to be made if the Celtics hope to advance. Perhaps it’s giving more minutes to Payton Pritchard (2-for-2 from three), Sam Hauser and Grant Williams. Perhaps it’s cycling the offense through anyone other than a struggling Jayson Tatum over the first 18 minutes. Whatever it is, it doesn’t seem as though it will be shooting any less.
“You just gotta keep shooting,” Tatum said. “Keep that same routine. Don’t think about it, just let it fly.”
