Celtics tie NBA 3-pointer record with 29 against the Knicks

BOSTON — The Boston crowd chanted "One more 3!"

The Celtics did their best, firing up 13 shots from 3-point range in an attempt to break the NBA record for 3s in a game — and missing them all. In the end, all the defending champions could do in their 132-109 victory over the New York Knicks on Tuesday night was to tie the record of 29 three-pointers made by Milwaukee in 2020.

"It was almost like we got jinxed or something," said Jaylen Brown, who scored 23 points and was 5 of 9 from 3-point range, but tossed up an airball with a chance to break the record.

"When we were just playing, having fun, playing our style of basketball, everything was going in," Brown said. "The crowd got into it, and when we started hunting them, we couldn't even hit the bright side of the barn."

Jayson Tatum made 8 of 11 from long distance, and Derrick White connected on six, as the Celtics made 29 of their first 48 3-point attempts while opening a 35-point lead over New York on the night Boston raised its 18th championship banner to the rafters.

The Celtics made 10 of 17 three-pointers in the first quarter, when they opened a 19-point lead. They added seven 3s in the second quarter and nine in the third. Al Horford tied the record from the left side with about nine minutes left in the game and the Celtics leading by 33.

Then, the defending champions couldn't find the hoop.

Brown and Xavier Tillman each fired up an airball from beyond the arc, and the Celtics scored just three more times the rest of the way — all 2-pointers — with just one basket after the 6:37 mark. Neither team scored at all in the final 3:43.

Payton Pritchard was the master bricklayer, missing five from long range. Sam Hauser missed three, Tillman missed two and Jordan Walsh missed one. Boston finished 29 of 61 from 3-point range.

"When we were tied, I was like 'We're one away from the record'," White said. "I shouldn't have said anything. It's kind of like a no-hitter, huh? I blame myself."

New York blown out

The new-look Knicks were no match in their first test against the defending champions.

After a pair of big off-season moves that landed them Karl-Anthony Towns and Mikal Bridges, the Knicks fell behind early and were blown out by the Celtics on Boston's banner raising night.

Looking to reach the Eastern Conference finals for the first time since 2000, the Knicks had trouble keeping up with Boston's barrage of 3-pointers.

It started early and didn't get any better for New York.

"Defensively, obviously, we've got to be a lot better than we were," Knicks coach Tom Thibodeau said. "They put a lot of pressure on you. Sometimes the initial shot we were able to get to, then the (rebound) went long over our heads."

Towns finished with 12 points and seven rebounds in his New York debut. Bridges, brought in to help bolster its defense against Tatum and Brown, added 16 points.

New York trailed by 19 after one quarter and the deficit ballooned to 26 after three quarters, setting up a long stretch of garbage time.

"They tied an NBA record in 3s," New York guard Josh Hart said. "You have like three to four games a year where the team shoots the ball at an absurd clip, and sometimes there's not much you can do about it.

"You've got to give them credit," Hart said. "Ring night and they came out."

Hart even joked that Boston's performance was unreal.

"The NBA needs to drug test all of them," he said, smiling. "I've never ever seen anything like that before."

New York's defense left Boston's shooters wide open on numerous occasions. The Celtics moved the ball quickly around the perimeter and the Knicks seemed to be constantly out of position.

"Personally, I've got to be better," Knicks guard Jalen Brunson said. "We can dissect everything, or whatever, but they made a lot of 3s. We have to be better on both sides of the ball. I have to be better on both sides of the ball."

Agencies Via Xinhua