The defending champion Boston Celtics came into ‘Ring Night’ with chips on their shoulders and feeling disrespected. They took it out on the New York Knicks.
The rambunctious and electric crowd at TD Garden could be heard chanting “One more 3!”
The Celtics did everything they could, launching 13 attempts from 3-point range in an effort to break the NBA record for 3s in a game and missing them all. Talk about unlucky. In the end, all the defending champions could do in their 132-109 victory over Tom Thibodeau and the New York Knicks on Tuesday night was tie the record of 29 3s made by their rival, the Milwaukee Bucks in 2020.
“It was almost like we got jinxed or something,” said Jaylen Brown, who scored 23 points and was 5 of 9 from downtown, but unfortunately tossed up an airball with a chance to break the record.
“When we were just playing, having fun, playing our style of basketball, everything was going in,” Brown said. “The crowd got into it, and we started hunting them, we couldn’t even hit the bright side of the barn.”
Jayson Tatum swished 8 of 11 from long distance and Derrick White connected on six as the Celtics made 29 of their first 48 3-point attempts while breaking the game open with a 35-point lead over the Knicks on the night Boston raised its 18th championship banner to the rafters.
Embed from Getty ImagesThe Celtics got off to a red-hot start, making 10 of 17 triples in the first quarter, when they opened a 19-point lead. They continued the onslaught, adding seven 3s in the second quarter and nine in the third. 38-year-old Al Horford tied the record from the left side with about nine minutes left in the fourth quarter and the Celtics leading by 33.
Then the defending champions could not find the hoop.
Brown and Xavier Tillman each fired up an airball from beyond the arc, and the Celtics scored just three more times the rest of the way, all 2-pointers, with just a single basket after the 6:37 mark. Neither team scored at all in the final 3:43.
The usual sharp shooter Payton Pritchard was the master bricklayer, missing five from long range. Sam Hauser missed three, Tillman missed two and Jordan Walsh missed one. Boston finished 29 of 61 from 3-point range. Nerves are a real thing.
“When we were tied, I was like ‘We’re one away from the record,’” White said. “I shouldn’t have said anything. It’s kind of like a no-hitter, huh? I blame myself.”
