Payton Pritchard preferred to put an end to this funny evening for the Celtics with 3-points. While there were still around thirty seconds left to play against the Knicks, and even if it meant upsetting part of the TD Garden, the replacement leader kept the ball until the end of the possession.
Preferring to be penalized with a “turnover”, rather than trying his luck one last time, so that the Celtics (finally!) seize the 3-point record. The reigning champions were well able to do so tonight.
For three quarters, the locals carried out their attack with disconcerting ease and fluidity. Faced with New Yorkers almost systematically late in their rotations, the Celtics kept fixing to better bring out the balls. Not to mention these numerous very high screens which participated in the mastery of “spacing”.
All the owners at the party
All the starters participated in these fireworks, starting with Jayson Tatum (8/11 from afar) who wanted to send a message. Behind him, Derrick White (6/10), Jaylen Brown (5/9), Jrue Holiday (4/6) and Al Horford (3/5) all performed.
So much so that after a final winning shot from the veteran at the start of the last quarter, the Celtics posted an unthinkable 29/48 behind the arc. That is 60% success and an NBA record equaled since a Covid evening in December 2020 when the Bucks also converted 29 attempts.
But against the Knicks, the Celtics' royal evening turned into a farce. Because in the seconds following this shot by Al Horford, Jaylen Brown, then Xavier Tillman both saw their attempt end… in an “airball”. There were still 7 minutes left to play. The record “could” not not fall. But seeing their favorites making a series of misses, the local public pushed and demanded: “ One more 3-points! »
“ It's a bit like bad luck. We played, we had fun, we played our style of basketball, everything came together. And then once the audience got into it and we started to (aim for the record), we finished far from the target. Nothing fit. We had a bunch of great opportunities, there was a kind of lid on the basket “, image Jaylen Brown.
A distorted game in the finale
Without exaggerating because his team will miss its last 13 attempts! “ This shows that we are not a team that chases 3-points. We play the game and we do what we're supposed to do. But towards the end, it was difficult because we didn't play like we usually do », the winger finally recognized.
His team, which only shot seven times inside the arc during the fourth quarter, went so far as to miss three winning baskets in a row on the same possession (two offensive rebounds). Payton Pritchard was particularly insistent in this matter with his 1/9, while Sam Hauser did not shine much better (2/7).
During this sequence, Derrick White remembers asking around him what the record was.
“ Someone told me. And when we tied it, I was like, 'Oh, we're one shot away from the record.' I shouldn't have said anything. I blame myself for that », says Derrick White to conclude.
