Sam Hauser Injury Halts Career Night From Celtics Forward

It seemed nothing was going to stop Sam Hauser with the Boston Celtics forward well on pace to break the franchise record for most 3-pointers in game. He even had a good shot at Klay Thompson’s NBA record of 14 triples in a game.

But a sprained ankle Hauser suffered in the third quarter put all that record talk to rest.

The injury forced Hauser to sit out the rest of Boston’s easy-going 130-104 win over the Washington Wizards at Capital One Arena. Celtics head coach Joe Mazulla gave an update on Hauser after the Celtics improved to a sterling 53-14.

“I know he was doing like a just an X-ray after the game,” Mazzulla told reporters, as seen on NBC Sports Boston postgame coverage. “So we’ll find out. It was cautionary X-ray was what they said.”

Hauser put together his best showing in an NBA uniform against the lowly Wizards. He poured in a career-high 30 points on a sparklingly 10-of-13 shooting from beyond the arc. He became just the third Celtics player in franchise history to make double-digit 3-pointers in a game, joining Marcus Smart, who holds the record with 11 treys, and Jaylen Brown.

Hauser torched the Wizards early, sinking seven 3-pointers in the first half — a franchise record — as six of them came in the second quarter.

Hauser hit his 10th triple just two-and-half minutes into the third quarter, fueling the belief that he could take down the all-time NBA mark for 3-pointers in a single game. But with just under eight minutes left in the third quarter, Hauser sprained his ankle after launching from deep. Hauser took a couple steps after his shot as he appeared to hurt his ankle along the Wizards bench.

Despite any cause for concern over the injury, Mazzulla still marveled at Hauser’s impressive shooting performance.

“It was great,” Mazzulla said. “Loved his confidence, loved his aggressiveness, loved how guys look for him and I love how he got his shots within the flow of our execution. And that’s the weapon that he is, his ability to just put two on the ball, his ability to create open shots for himself and for other people, so it was fun to watch him shoot them. It was fun to watch his guys look for him.”