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Key Moment
It’s rainin’ 3s! Hallelujah! It’s rainin’ 3s!
Well, it’s not anymore, but it finally was for Boston during the latter stages of the second quarter of Saturday night’s matchup against the Knicks.
Boston had been struggling from long range and starving for success from long distance this preseason. Saturday night, they finally found a rhythm.
Al Horford got the ball rolling with a trey at the 4:33 mark of second frame. His bucket apparently popped the lid off the basket, both for him and for his teammates.
The big man drilled another 3 just 26 seconds later to tie the game up at 43-43, and then his teammates began to follow suit. By the end of the quarter, Jae Crowder had nailed two treys of his own, and Isaiah Thomas and Marcus Smart added one each.
All told, Boston drilled six 3s during the final 4:33 of the first half, accounting for 75 percent of its baskets during that time. The hot streak from long range pushed the C’s, who had trailed 41-37 before Horford’s first trey of the night, ahead by a count of 59-50 at the break.
Brad Stevens chose not to play his starters during the second half, allowing the reserves to carry Boston to a 119-107 victory. New York crept to within two points during the second half before the C’s, led by 17 second-half points from R.J. Hunter, pulled away for the win.
Many key plays were made by Boston during the second half that allowed it to grab a win on the road, that much is for certain. But that streak of hot 3-point shooting that the team’s starters showcased? That was the most important part of this game.
Not because it gave the Celtics a win, but more so because the starting group now has a rhythm from long range, something it didn’t have prior to Saturday night.
Key Player
Avery Bradley scored only seven points Thursday night during 26 minutes of action.
Saturday night? Oh, was Saturday night different.
Bradley was on fire for the entirety of his 17 minutes of action against the Knicks. All 17 of those minutes were played during the first half, during which he scored a team-best 15 points.
Most important was the sizzle with which Bradley shot the basketball. He was almost perfect on the night, canning seven of his nine attempts from the field. Typically known as a 3-point shooter, Bradley took what the defense gave him inside the arc, where he made seven of his eight field goal attempts.
There wasn’t much else to Bradley’s box score – he added only two steals, one rebound and one assist – but the rest of his play didn’t really matter. What mattered was that he was on fire throughout the duration of his night, and that’s exactly what the Celtics want to see out of their longtime shooting guard as the preseason winds own.
Box Score Nuggets
- Seven Celtics scored in double-figures, led by R.J. Hunter's team-high 17 points.
- Mindaugas Kuzminskas scored a game-high 18 points for New York.
- Boston totaled only four more rebounds (29) than it did assists (25).
- Demetrius Jackson led the game in assists with six despite playing only 13 minutes.
- Jackson also scored 10 points.
- Carmelo Anthony, who scored 15 points, was the only New York starter who scored in double-figures.
- Willy Hernangomez led the game in rebounds with 12.
- Boston shot an impressive 58.9 percent from the field and made half of its 3-point attempts.
- The C's outscored the Knicks by 13 points while Jae Crowder was on the court.
- Both benches were outstanding at scoring the basketball, as the C's reserves totaled 74 points and the Knicks reserves scored 66.
- New York outscored Boston 21-8 in second-chance points.
- While Boston was hot fro the field, it made only 57.1 percent (20-for-35) of its free throw attempts.
- Jaylen Brown notched 12 points and three rebounds off the bench for the C's.
Quote of the Night
Jaylen Brown on playing against Carmelo Anthony