BOSTON - A franchise-record 24 made 3-pointers helped the Boston Celtics rout the previously undefeated Milwaukee Bucks Thursday night by a score of 117-113. The Celtics are now 6-2, the Bucks fall to 7-1.
The Celtics shot 55 3-pointers against Milwaukee, a franchise record from beyond the arc. Boston translated those attempts into a team record for made 3's and did so handily, making 43.6 percent of their attempts. The previous 3-point record for the franchise was 20 and was tied earlier this year in January (1/16 vs. New Orleans).
So how were the Celtics able to make that many three-pointers? According to the players and coaches, the Bucks defense allowed them easy looks.
"Since the second half of the OKC game we've played pretty good offensively," head coach Brad Stevens said during postgame. "We've gotten good shots, we've generated good ones. Tonight we didn't settle as much. We still had some possessions that we would like to have back. I thought that we took what the defense gave us and we got to the second side of the floor and we found open shooters."
The ability for Boston to move the ball around effectively and find the open shot resulted in the team assisting on 31 of their 41 made baskets.
According to Kyrie Irving, the Celtics should have taken more attempts from beyond the arc with the way the Bucks were defending them.
"Never. Get ‘em up. They’re wide open," he said. If they’re going to play defense like that then I don’t see why not. … I hope we shoot 80 next game if they play defense like that."
Some smaller victories that came from Boston last night were from Gordon Hayward and Semi Ojeleye. Hayward had his best game since joining the Celtics, scoring 18 points (6-of-11 from the field, 3-of-5 from 3-point range, 3-of-3 from the free throw line) to go along with four rebounds and five assists. Ojeleye, who started in place of injured Jaylen Brown (foot), was very efficient in the starting lineup. He generated 10 points (4-of-6 from the field, 2-of-4 from 3-point range) and had five points, five rebounds, while also playing terrific defense, as he is well known for.
"I think everybody knows what I think about Semi," Stevens said. "Whether he starts or doesn't play, he's the first one in the gym the next day."
Despite the offensive barrage from the Celtics, their defense played a huge part in their success as well.
Heading into the game, Milwaukee was ranked first in the league in made 3-pointers (15.6 per game) and were sixth in the NBA in 3-point percentage (38.4). On the flip side, Boston was ranked second in the league in 3-pointers allowed per game (8.9) and opponent percentage from beyond the arc (27.4).
When all was said-and-done, the Bucks only made nine 3-pointers, which is about six less than their average, and shot an abysmal 9-of-31 from deep (31 percent).
"We spend a lot of time on trying to be a good three-point defense," said Stevens. "We give up some other things when we do that, when we switch so much. If you switch, you stay intact, if you stay intact you can not have to rotate, if you don't have to rotate you can guard the line. Again, easier said than done if we can't keep the guy in front of us.
"That's the challenge that Milwaukee poses along with other challenges because they put their head down and drive it and you saw that they got layups and got to the foul line. It's the second or third straight game where we have fouled a bunch at the start of the fourth quarter and put ourselves into a bind and into the bonus and we've had leads that we've lost. Those are things that we have to work on and be better (at).
Boston seems to have hit their stride offensively. Now it's up to them to be consistent. Not that they have to continue to break franchise records, but they need to continue to find consistent fluidity on offense by moving the ball around, making open shots and playing great defense. If they can do that, it may be a while until they get their third loss of the season.
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