BOSTON - The Boston Celtics had won 125 regular season games and 20 of their last 24 playoff over the last two years coming into their series with the New York Knicks, doing so happily being unapologetic about their historic 3-point shot hoisting.
But the Celtics might've finally reached a saturation point as they missed a record 45 of them Monday night as the Knicks took advantage in a 108-105 Game 1 overtime victory.
At one point in the second half, after the Celtics built a 20-point lead and looking to be on their way to a 10th win in their last 11 meetings with the Knicks, Boston missed its next 10 shots and all were 3-pointers. In all, the Celtics went 15-of-60 on 3-pointers, the most ever taken in a playoff game.
"Some of 'em felt good, some of 'em felt like we maybe forced the issue," said Celtics star Jaylen Brown, who was 1-of-10 on 3s in the game. "Definitely our rhythm and our timing was a little bit off. We got a lot of great looks, but it may be some truth (to shooting too many) today."
Brown was correct on the open looks, the Celtics took 45 "uncontested" 3-pointers and missed 32 of them, per ESPN Research tracking. But the volume of attempts, even when they weren't falling, caused the second guessing.
"Obviously in hindsight, if we could go back, we'd probably drive the ball a little bit more because we missed a lot of shots tonight," said Celtics forward Jayson Tatum, who went 4-of-15 on 3s. "You can always go back and look and see what you should have done differently."
On several occasions down the stretch, the Celtics ran offensive actions that got Tatum favorable matchups on smaller or slower defenders but he bailed the Knicks out by taking lower percentage long shots.
All the misses -- Boston was 9-of-34 on 3s after halftime -- opened the door for the Knicks to claw the lead back. After allowing 84 3-pointers in four losses to the Celtics during the regular season, the Knicks made two more 3-pointers (17) than the Celtics on 23 fewer attempts.
"I look at the process and the shot quality, (and) our shot quality was high," said Celtics coach Joe Mazzulla, who has made it a mission for his team to hunt as many 3-pointers as possible. "There were probably eight to 10 shots that could be better at for sure."
That may sound resolute from the coach but that stance is softer than Mazzulla has taken in the past on cold shooting nights, a nod to just how many misses piled up.
After establishing the 20-point lead in the third quarter, the Nuggets finished the game 3-of-28 on 3-pointers and took just six free throws in that span. It opened the door for the Knicks, who saw OG Anunoby and Jalen Brunson score or assisted on 55 of 63 points after halftime.
"In those moments when the other team got momentum you can't just fire up threes to break up momentum," Brown said. "You got to get to the free throw line, get to the paint, get to the basket, maybe get an easy two. You hit some free throws and then maybe the next three pointer feels a little bit better."
