The Boston Celtics found themselves in a hole against the Brooklyn Nets. A 16-2 to open the game had the Nets firmly in control, and Boston wasn’t doing much to help themselves. Their offense was rough, especially from behind the three-point arc. Nobody embodied that fact more than Sam Hauser.
Hauser made his first three of the game but proceeded to miss his next eight attempts. But when it came down to the final two minutes, Jayson Tatum still dished Hauser the ball in the corner, and he sunk the shot. It was a huge point in the contest, and the three put the Celtics up by one.
They never want Hauser to stop shooting.
The Celtics have a ton of confidence in Sam Hauser
After the game, Tatum was asked about his late-game pass to Hauser, which he made knowing that his teammate had been ice-cold. But Tatum said there was never and will never be a moment where he second-guesses a pass to Hauser.
The Celtics even got mad at Hauser for getting down on himself.
“No. Never. Ever. If Sam's open, if he's not open, we always want him to be a threat,” Tatums aid post-game. “Not necessarily like, 'Shoot it every time,' but we got we have so much confidence in Sam that we were mad at him when he missed it, and he was like mad at himself.
“Al was yelling at him on the bench like, 'Yo, don't ever put your head down.' We always believe the next one is going in, because he's such a proven shooter he works really hard at his craft. So no, I'm never like, 'Oh s--t, Sam just missed his last two shots. I'm not about to pass it to him.' Like, no, I would never think that.”
Sam Hauser so relieved after finally hitting a three-pointer
— Noa Dalzell 🏀 (@NoaDalzell) November 9, 2024
He was 1-9 from downtown to that point
Jayson Tatum never lost confidence in him pic.twitter.com/dke7kwxfvC
Hauser ended the game 2-of-10 from three, but the second he made was crucial. And Boston never stopped believing in their sharpshooter.
Joe Mazzulla also spoke about the shot after the game, stating that Hauser’s poor performance just means a great one is around the corner.
“It's a credit to him having an understanding of, 'You need your teammates.' And all of his teammates were empowering him to keep shooting,” Mazzulla said of the play. “And 1-for-9 just means he's going to have a 6-for-10 game coming up here soon. So, it's just part of the game. He generated great looks. He got great looks. He has to shoot then. The guys have to pass to him. And we move on about our day.”