An uncharacteristic 3-point shooting performance by the Boston Celtics led to a frustrating loss in New York Monday night.
In their only blemish of a three-game road trip, the C’s shot a season-worst 21.4 percent from beyond the arc, which included a stretch of 16 consecutive misses in the first half and led to a 109-94 defeat.
Boston also tied a season-low with nine makes from 3-point range, a polar-opposite performance from its last game at Madison Square Garden on Nov. 11, when it made a franchise-record 27 triples at a 52.9 percent clip in a 133-118 win.
Although both of those efforts were extreme in either direction, Monday night’s showing was more of a fluke.
The C’s had been shooting brilliantly of late, making at least 41 percent of their long-range shots in seven of their previous eight outings. That included a 46.2 percent clip against Indiana in the first game of their road trip and a 44.4 percent mark against Philadelphia in the middle game.
Boston entered the night second in the NBA in 3-point makes per game (16.0), trailing only Golden State (16.7). It was also only one of six teams shooting at least 38 percent from deep on the season. The Celtics are 29-5 when hitting their average in total 3-point makes, and 24-0 when shooting at least 40 percent from deep.
However, even elite teams have off-shooting nights, and this was one of the rare few for Boston.
The same could be said about Jayson Tatum, who is going through one of his only shooting slumps of the season. In three games since the All-Star break, he’s shot 36.7 percent from the field, including 24.1 percent from long range. Against the Knicks, he made 6-of-18 from the field, including 1-of-9 from deep, and also had his first career ejection late in the fourth quarter after picking up his second technical foul of the night.
Despite the mini-slump, no one on the team is concerned about Tatum's recent stretch, nor should they be.
Al Horford put it into perspective after the game, noting, “It’s a long season and Jayson has been playing, as we all know, at an MVP level for most of the season. If you can go all 82 playing like that, that’s just tough. There’s going to be ups and downs and he’s the last guy that I’m worried about.”
Brogdon Steps Up with Brown Out
One Celtic that is certainly not in a slump is Malcolm Brogdon.
The backup combo guard stepped up Monday night in the absence of Jaylen Brown (out for personal reasons) and poured in 22 points on 10-of-16 shooting from the field, marking his first game leading the Celtics outright in scoring.
It was the fourth time that Brogdon had scored more than 20 points in his last five outings, during which he has averaged 20.4 points per game. He’s the first Celtic reserve to average at least that many points over a five-game span since Isaiah Thomas in 2015.
Even more impressive is the fact that Brogdon has only committed four turnovers during that span, including just one in his last four games.
Only seven times in Celtics history has a reserve recorded 100-plus points and fewer than five turnovers over a five-game span without overlap, and Brogdon has now done it twice in the last two months alone. Two-time Sixth Man of the Year Kevin McHale accomplished the feat twice during his Celtics career, Larry Bird also did so twice while coming off the bench in 1982, and Xavier McDaniel did it once in 1993. What makes Brogdon and Bird stand out is that they were so mistake-free while also being primary ball handlers.
Brogdon has been building his case for Sixth Man of the Year all season long, and this latest stretch should only strengthen his odds.