The Boston Celtics have been in a weird place for the past few weeks. Though they are 28-11 on the year, over their last 13 games, they are just 7-6. “It's been a challenging month,” Joe Mazzulla said after the Celtics’ 120-119 win over the New Orleans Pelicans on Sunday night. And Al Horford sees one potential issue.
See, the Celtics have become synonymous with threes. In the early stages of the season, they were jacking up a ton of shots from beyond the arc, and while they are still one of the top teams in terms of volumes, it hasn’t been to the same extent. Horford thinks that number needs to change.
He spoke about the topic after Boston’s win over New Orleans.
Al Horford wants Celtics to take more threes
Horford said that he thinks the Celtics should get back to shooting more threes. (H/t Jay King of The Athletic)
“I don’t know,” Horford said of why the Celtics’ three-point attempts have decreased. “I wonder that, too. I’m like, man, we’ve gotta get those up. We had those numbers up — way up — earlier in the season and now it seems like we’re taking less. I like when we shoot a lot of 3s so that’s a really good question.”
Through December 31, the Celtics were getting up 50.4 three-point attempts per game, which was first in the NBA by far. The Chicago Bulls were taking the second-most at just 44.2. But that hasn’t been the case lately.
Since the beginning of the new year, the Celtics have averaged just 43.7 threes per game—a steep drop-off from their previous volume. It still ranks first in the NBA, but the San Antonio Spurs are in second at 43.4, which is right behind Boston.
“We have a lot of good shooters,” Horford said, “So, I feel like when we shoot more we have better chances. Also, it spreads the floor out, opens the floor up a lot for Jaylen and Jayson. I’m sure that we’ll get back there eventually. I can’t really tell you honestly right now what it is. But I know we have practice (Monday) and we’ll have a good film session and we’ll continue to learn and address things.”
Celtics fans have a very volatile relationship with the Celtics’ three-point volume. When they are going in, everything is okay, but when they aren’t, it’s the first place they look for complaints.
And Boston has been shooting just 32.8% from three since the new year.
So, for Horford to say that the Celtics should be taking more threes may be a statement Boston fans aren’t too happy to see.