It’s no secret that the Boston Celtics love the three-ball. They take more than anyone in the NBA, they make more than just about anyone, and when they catch fire, they’re nearly impossible to stop.
Monday night was no exception. With Jayson Tatum resting his knee, Sam Hauser stepped into the starting lineup and wasted no time making his mark. He drilled a career-high nine threes and poured in 33 points, leading the Celtics to a 114-108 win over the Utah Jazz.
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The Celtics keep letting it fly and it keeps working
Boston’s three-point philosophy isn’t just a gimmick. The numbers back it up: they attempt 47.5 threes per game, making nearly 18, and are the only team in the league attempting more shots from deep than from inside the arc. It’s a system that has worked all season, and Hauser’s explosion was just the latest example.
His third-quarter performance was particularly absurd. He hit seven threes in the period, joining an exclusive club of NBA players who have ever done that in a single quarter. That stretch helped Boston build a 24-point lead before Utah mounted a furious comeback. But when the Celtics needed one more dagger to seal the win, Hauser delivered again, drilling his ninth three-pointer with just over a minute left.
“I was just trying to find the open spots, and my teammates kept getting me the ball,” Hauser said postgame. “When you’re in a rhythm like that, you just let it fly.”
A team built to rain threes
Hauser isn’t alone in his deep-range dominance. This season, four Celtics players-Hauser, Tatum, Derrick White, and Payton Pritchard-have each had a game with at least nine made threes, something no other NBA team has ever accomplished. Pritchard had 10 just last week, while White drained nine in a win over Portland the night before.
The trust in Boston’s shooting runs deep. Head coach Joe Mazzulla summed it up best: “There’s no shot that [Hauser] takes that we think is a bad shot.”
Sitting near the top of the Eastern Conference, the Celtics aren’t just launching threes for the sake of it-they’re winning because of them. As the season rolls on, their commitment to the deep ball could be the key to another title run.
