For all the noise around Boston’s obsession with the three-pointer, the numbers keep backing Joe Mazzulla’s approach. The Celtics have built an offense that doesn’t just live on threes - it thrives because of them.
Last season, Boston finished second in the NBA with 1.21 points per possession in the regular season. But the deeper cut is even louder: on possessions when a three was attempted, that number jumped to 1.35.
That doesn’t mean every one of those possessions ended with a made three. It also includes trips where a missed three was snared by the offense and turned into another basket, whether that next look came from deep or not.
But that’s part of the design. The Celtics have tied together volume from outside, offensive rebounding, and extra possessions into one of the league’s most efficient attacks.
And here’s the part that should make the critics pause: Boston was only fourth in the league in points per possession on trips where a three was attempted, behind the Hornets, Rockets, and Nuggets. Charlotte and Denver were more accurate but didn’t launch nearly as often as Boston, while Houston’s edge came from crushing teams on the offensive glass.
The bigger takeaway is hard to ignore. When teams take threes, the offense tends to hum, even if the shot doesn’t fall. In Boston’s case, that formula has produced elite results.
That’s why the math around Mazzulla’s shot diet doesn’t look like a flaw. It looks like a blueprint. If anything, the Celtics’ numbers suggest they should lean even harder into it, and the changes made this offseason make it clear Brad Stevens and the front office see it the same way.
Paul George is an excellent three-point shooter, and Mitchell Robinson is an elite offensive rebounder. Payton Pritchard and other players who will see a bump in usage are also guys who will get shots up from distance. The Celtics’ three-point barrage is only going to be amplified this season, so if that doesn’t interest you, you may want to avoid watching the team play this season.
But if you just want to see elite offense and winning basketball, then I have a feeling you’re going to like what you see, even if it means shooting more threes than we’ve ever seen before. Whether the shots go in or not, it’s going to lead to a lot of points. And that’s just math.
In Other News...
Neemias Queta Gets Honest About Celtics Losing Jaylen Brown
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Queta also spent time talking about another new addition in Mitchell Robinson, and the fit could matter just as much as the headline move. He praised Robinsons rebounding ability and described the possibility of the two sharing the frontcourt as a potentially useful look for Boston, giving the Celtics a different kind of interior presence as they sort through what the post-Brown roster is going to become. [Read more 🡒]
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Brown now joins a 76ers group that is suddenly loaded with star power, including LeBron James, and the move only raises the stakes in the Eastern Conference. For Boston, it is the kind of trade that can make sense on paper and still sting in the gut, especially when it involves a player who spent so much of his career as part of the Celtics core identity. [Read more 🡒]
Jaylen Brown Trade Debate Just Took On New Meaning For Celtics Fans
Contract decisions can reshape a team long before the games start, and the Pistons standoff with Jalen Duren has reopened an old Celtics conversation in a new way. For Boston fans, it is a familiar reminder of how front offices sometimes choose to move a young piece early rather than let an extension talks loom over the roster and the cap sheet.
Jaylen Browns trade still stands as the cleanest example of that kind of forward thinking, with Boston opting to act before he reached extension eligibility and the negotiation could become more complicated. Seen through the Pistons current situation, the move looks less like a simple basketball decision and more like a way to preserve flexibility, avoid an internal tug-of-war and keep the franchise from being boxed in by one difficult contract discussion. [Read more 🡒]