The Boston Celtics lived this mantra more than any team ever had in NBA Playoffs history:
Live by the 3, die by the 3.
On Monday night, they looked like they were cruising to a well-lived Game 1, but then the shots went frigid and the Celtics blew a 20-point lead to the Knicks, eventually falling in overtime.
The final tally: 15 made 3-pointers in 60 attempts. They shot just 3-for-18 from deep across the fourth quarter and overtime.
In other words, Boston missed 45 3-pointers.
That's an NBA Playoffs record.
It nearly ties the regular season record of 47 held by the Rockets (who also hold second place with a 46 miss game from beyond the arc).
A look at the heavy shooters explains it:
- Jayson Tatum 4-for-15 from 3
- Jaylen Brown 1-for-10 from 3
- Jrue Holiday 2-for-7 from 3
- Derrick White 5-for-16 from 3
- Payton Pritchard 2-for-5 from 3
- Al Horford 1-for-5 from 3
- Sam Hauser 0-for-2 from 3
Whew, that's tough.
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All the Celtics needed was for one guy to be a little hot and even the blown lead would've just held on.
But all those misses were just enough to keep the Knicks around and lead to Game 1 disaster.
Boston rode its outside shooting to a banner last season. They very well might do that again.
But in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Semifinals, Boston made a quarter of its shots from beyond the arc, and that wasn't enough.
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