Celtics tie three‑point mark
Boston tied an NBA record by sinking 29 three‑pointers in a single game, a barrage that underlines how explosive the floor can be when their shooters get hot. (x.com) Even isolated as a single‑game outburst, a 29‑trey night reshapes how opponents must guard them in immediate rematches. (x.com)
Boston spent Friday night turning a normal regular-season game into target practice, hitting 29 three-pointers in a 144-118 win over New Orleans on April 10 and locking up the Eastern Conference’s No. 2 playoff seed at the same time. (espn.com) That number is not just a Celtics high-water mark for this season. Twenty-nine is tied for the most three-pointers any National Basketball Association team has ever made in one game, a record Boston had already matched on October 22, 2024 against the New York Knicks. (nba.com) The club on that record line is small. The Milwaukee Bucks first got to 29 on December 29, 2020, Boston joined them in 2024, and the Memphis Grizzlies also hit 29 on April 6, 2026 before Boston pulled level again five days later. (nba.com) (espn.com) Boston did it with volume and with range across the roster. Eight Celtics players made at least two three-pointers, Sam Hauser hit eight by himself, and reserve center Neemias Queta even made the first three-pointer of his National Basketball Association career. (espn.com) The game was basically over before the record chase became the story. Boston made 10 of 17 from deep in the first quarter, built a 22-point cushion early, and led by as many as 41 against a New Orleans team missing Zion Williamson, Trey Murphy the Third, Dejounte Murray, Herb Jones, and Saddiq Bey. (foxsports.com) (espn.com) That is what makes a shooting night like this hard to guard in a rematch. If one shooter is hot, a defense can trap him, but when Hauser, Payton Pritchard, Jaylen Brown, and even Queta are all scoring from outside, every help defender is one pass away from giving up three points. (espn.com) Boston’s roster construction has been pushing toward this for years. Joe Mazzulla’s teams have leaned into spacing the floor, taking a huge number of threes, and forcing defenses to choose between protecting the rim or staying attached to shooters around the arc. (espn.com) The strangest part is that Boston had chances to own the record outright and chose not to force it at the end. After Hugo Gonzalez tied the mark with 1:20 left, the Celtics got three late chances, then Mazzulla had them hold the ball for a shot-clock violation with 1 second remaining instead of launching one more attempt. (espn.com) So the lasting image is not one last heave. It is a contender resting Jayson Tatum, getting 24 points from Hauser, 21 points and 10 assists from Pritchard, 23 points from Brown in 29 minutes, and still landing on one of the loudest shooting nights the league has ever seen. (espn.com) That is the part opponents will care about most in the playoffs. Boston did not need a perfect lineup, a close game, or even its biggest star on the floor to get to 29, which means every postseason scouting report now has to treat a Celtics avalanche from deep as something that can start almost anytime. (espn.com)
