The Boston Celtics' loss to the Houston Rockets last night wasn't fun to watch, but honestly, it wasn't that disheartening. The second night of a back-to-back on the road against one of the NBA's best teams with no Paul George? It's actually pretty impressive that they were in the game for most of it until Houston pulled away in the fourth.
Among the contributing factors to their loss was the cold shooting of Payton Pritchard and Sam Hauser (and Derrick White, to be fair). However, Pritchard and Hauser both had goose eggs from distance, shooting zero-for-10 combined. In a game Boston lost by 16 - again, it was single digits for most of the game - if six of those threes go in, the Celtics win.
Even worse is that the threes they shot were wide open for the most part. They were good shots that simply didn't go in. They happen, but with how Boston lost, they shed light on Pritchard and Hauser and how their impact affects the Celtics.
They are now the Celtics' cavalry
Nights like last night harp on how important these two are to Boston's success as a team. In the past, they could endure it when those two weren't hitting their open threes. They previously had quite a few sharpshooters who could fill in in case those two weren't knocking them down from deep.
In other words, Boston had a cavalry they could depend on when it came to their three-point shooting, so that the shooting from Hauser and Pritchard was more of a luxury than a necessity, but that has since changed.
Even if three-point shooting is a little bit of an overrated factor in Mazzulla Ball, it still is pretty important to the Celtics' success. Pritchard and Hauser are guys who can shoot from distance, which became much more important after the Celtics blew up their squad in 2025, losing three-point shooters like Kristaps Porzingis, Jrue Holiday, and Al Horford.
For Boston to succeed, they need those threes to drop. It's okay if one of them goes cold, as off-nights happen, but when both of them do it at the same time, that's when it creates legitimate trouble, no matter who they are facing.
Hauser and Pritchard will have nights like last night throughout the season. Them having a bad shooting night at the same time during a game in which Boston was neck-and-neck with Houston shows the peril that comes when neither is hitting their threes.
When they're hitting them, it will be hard to stop the Celtics, but when they don't, it will be harder for them to beat just about anyone.
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