Not everything went in favor of the Boston Celtics during Opening Night, even though they demolished the New York Knicks, collected their championship rings, raised Banner 18 and watched Jayson Tatum put on a masterpiece double-double display.
Boston, fresh off averaging 42.5 attempts from 3-point range last season, took its three-hunting style of play to a whole new level. The Celtics drained 17 threes in the first half, topping their 2023-24 average of 16.5 makes per game, leaving two frames of basketball to snag the NBA’s all-time record of 29 set by the Milwaukee Bucks in 2020. Although it seemed promising, especially after going 9-of-13 from deep in the third quarter, the Celtics still fell short — settling for a tie instead.
“The whole crowd was chanting, ‘One more three!’ Sam Hauser said postgame, per NBC Sports Boston. “They’re chanting at us and then we tried our best, man. We missed like 15 in a row but we were taking great shots. Ball was moving, finding the right guy we just couldn’t get it to go. Sorry about that, Boston. Man, we got booed up 30 (points) on ring night, how about that? It’s crazy.”
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To add salt to the microscopic wound in Boston’s impressive 132-109 beatdown, the Celtics missed 13 consecutive 3-pointers in the final 8:50 of the fourth quarter. Hauser, finishing with 10 points on 4-of-10 shooting from the field in 24 minutes off the bench, contributed with four misses in the final frame. Celtics head coach Joe Mazzulla removed starters Jayson Tatum and Derrick White for the entirety of the fourth, but the ball movement quality didn’t diminish, Boston just fell (very) short.
The Celtics finished shooting 29-of-61 from three (47.5%), knocking down 18 more than the Knicks. Boston’s 61 attempts set a franchise record. It’s only fair to assume Mazzulla’s Game 1 scheme was a preview of how the Celtics plan to test their 3-point limits the rest of this season.
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Meanwhile, the boos, although odd to come hours after a banner was raised, speaks volumes to the standard the Celtics are held to, even on their home court.
“It was a pretty special night. Just to put the cherry on top of everything from last year,” Hauser explained, per NBC Sports Boston. “Honestly, it was kind of exciting to put it in the past and just worry about what we have ahead of us this year and tonight was the start of that. We had a good first game but we got 81 more.”
Hauser and the Celtics hit the road for Thursday night’s matchup with the Washington Wizards, but due to lower back pain, the 26-year-old sharpshooter has been listed as questionable, per team announcement, heading into the contest.
Featured image via Eric Canha/Imagn Images
