NBA scores 2017: The Celtics show off the incredible power of the 3-point line

The Celtics took a whopping 50 threes in winning on Sunday. They owned that part of the game, and that’s all that mattered.

by Tim Cato

Feb 6, 2017, 1:00 PM UTC

Photo by Maddie Meyer/Getty Images

The Boston Celtics became the third team to ever shoot 50 or more three-pointers in a single game on Sunday. It’s a feat that has been done eight total times, now: by the Houston Rockets six times, the New York Knicks once in quadruple overtime, and now the Celtics.

All eight instances have happened this season.

Before this year, the record for three-point attempts in a game was 49, set by the Dallas Mavericks in 1996, when the NBA briefly shortened the three-point line in an attempt to increase scoring. Since that temporary artificial two-year burst, NBA three-point has steadily rose every season. This year, the league will shatter three-point attempts and makes once again, just like it does most seasons.

And you can’t be surprised, because the outcomes are fueling this change. Sunday, the Celtics won, 106-101, because the Los Angeles Clippers couldn’t guard them at the three-point line.

Boston is a classic new-age team: of their top 10 rotation players (based on minutes), all 10 have 14 made threes at minimum, and all 10 shoot at least 31 percent from downtown. Their starting point guard and leading scorer, Isaiah Thomas, has 147 made threes on 39 percent shooting just halfway through the season. Their starting center, Al Horford, has hit 34 percent of his 151 attempts from distance.

Horford gave the Clippers fits all night. When Boston was jumping out to 30 three-point attempts in the first half alone (only making nine), Los Angeles constantly had pick-and-roll nightmares. Any pick-and-roll with a good shooting big man poses a problem of whether the other big helps with the ball handler, or sticks with his man to prevent an open “pop” for a jumper. But the Celtics make it even harder, because there’s usually at least one player on the floor teams are comfortable sagging off, and Boston basically doesn’t play anyone like that for the full 48 minutes.

Here’s a classic case of a defense being torn between two options. Thomas makes a gorgeous pass here, but Horford’s just hanging out alone. Money.

At halftime, Doc Rivers recognized that the Clippers had allowed too many threes. Even though Boston didn’t burn them, they easily could be roasted in the second half allowing those same looks.

“That’s not by design,” Rivers said at halftime to ABC’s sideline reporter. “We gave up too many. We’re lucky they didn’t make as many.”

The Clippers made subtle changes, sticking with the pick-setter more often and often leaving DeAndre Jordan — a rim protector crucial to their defensive scheme — isolated towards the perimeter. But that neuters his best skills.

So while the Clippers only shot 22 threes in the second half, they also allowed easy layups. On two possessions in quick succession in the third quarter, Kelly Olynyk scored simply by posting up near the rim on a smaller man and hitting layups turning over his shoulder.

When you sell out to stop open threes, you allow Olynyk to become a post presence. That’s a no-win situation.

This indecision that the Celtics cause is why Boston has the league’s seventh-best offensive efficiency despite lacking a “traditional” second scorer next to Isaiah Thomas. And even then, the Celtics’ 109 offensive rating would be good enough to league the lead or come very close in years past. Only the rise of dominant offenses this season has changed that.

On the other end, still missing the pinpoint passing of Chris Paul, the Clippers shot just 10-of-29 on threes themselves with 0-of-7 shooting from Austin Rivers and J.J. Redick. It didn’t matter that they outrebounded Boston and shot eight more free throws. The three-point margin mattered too much, both on actual makes and on the layups given up because Los Angeles had to sell out at the line.

These are the choices that teams have to make on defense in the modern NBA. In a game like this, where the Clippers didn’t lead from start to finish, Los Angeles is a reminder about how hard it can be.

Paul Pierce’s final game in Boston overshadowed the afternoon

This is Paul Pierce’s last season. He announced that before his final year with the Los Angeles Clippers, and that meant his one trip to Boston — where he spent 15 seasons — was going to be an emotional one. That was Sunday.

Pierce doesn’t play much these days, but Doc Rivers (his Boston coach, of course) slid him into the starting lineup so that this could happen.

Pierce didn’t get into the game after being subbed out after five minutes. Throughout the second half, Celtics fans chanted ‘WE WANT PAUL’ and finally got their wish with 20 seconds left in the game. It set up this perfect moment.

We’re so glad Pierce got to have a sendoff like this. It was what he deserved.