A common complaint from viewers is that the Boston Celtics shoot too many threes for their liking. On one hand, that's understandable. They launched 48.2 threes per game last season. The Golden State Warriors took the second most; they averaged 42.4. Seven games into the 2025-26 campaign, you can again find the Celtics atop that category. They're hoisting 47.3 per contest, per NBA.com.
When those shots aren't dropping, the criticism crescendoes. That was evident after Boston blew consecutive second-half leads of at least 20 on the TD Garden parquet to start its series against the New York Knicks last postseason.
There's credence to the idea that a two-point bucket could've helped settle the situation and prevented at least one of those collapses. However, a closer examination shows that the hosts repeatedly generated high-quality shots for reliable three-point threats. If you told them which ones wouldn't go down in advance, they'd find another option.
Furthermore, in Game 2 of that series, passing up those looks from beyond the arc often proved more problematic. It led to ill-advised twos and turnovers. Plus, misses closer to the rim often put a team at a disadvantage while sparking the opposition's transition attack.
So, while some may not like the volume of threes the Celtics take, they do a tremendous job of generating high-quality attempts, the math is on their side, and the alternatives would often contain more concerns.
Will Hardy discusses the Celtics' offense without Tatum
Monday night at TD Garden, among the former franchise members in the building was the head coach of the Utah Jazz, Will Hardy. He was Ime Udoka's lead assistant during Boston's run to the NBA Finals in the 2021-22 campaign.
While discussing how the Celtics' offense has looked without Jayson Tatum, Utah's bench boss noted that they have maintained their core principles. Chief among those, he cited the amount of threes they're still producing and the corner crashing that nets them second-chance opportunities.
Hardy also offered an insightful explanation of how they create so many opportunities from behind the arc.
Will Hardy on the roots of the Celtics’ ability to create so many 3PAs:
— Bobby Krivitsky (@BobbyKrivitsky) November 4, 2025
“They're very good at creating initial advantage. I think, one of the best teams in the NBA in terms of their discipline when they play small-small pick and rolls. And when I say small-small, I usually mean… https://t.co/RFh5PWZOCc pic.twitter.com/Wcpw4gDC7h
"They're very good at creating initial advantage," said Hardy. "I think, one of the best teams in the NBA in terms of their discipline when they play small-small pick and rolls. And when I say small-small, I usually mean guys that are being guarded by switching defenders, sometimes guards, sometimes it's wings, but they do a really good job of creating advantages in those moments.
"And then, once they have the advantage, they do a great job of making quick decisions on their drive-and-kick. Like I said, I think their spacing is really good, and they also have guys that can squeeze off threes in tight windows. And for those players, they're good shots."
Sustaining that without Tatum as their offensive engine is most impressive. And with so many reliable three-point shooters typically on the floor for the Celtics, don't expect them to change their approach. Nor should they.