‘The basketball gods said no’: Celtics laugh about and lament falling one 3-pointer short of NBA record
"And then once the crowd got into it and we started hunting them, we couldn’t even hit the broad side of the barn."
Sam Hauser couldn’t help but laugh as he apologized for the Celtics falling one 3-pointer short of the breaking NBA record for the most in a single game on opening night.
The Celtics started off hot, but once they got within one 3-pointer of the NBA record of 29 threes with 8:54 remaining in the game, they weren’t able to hit one no matter how hard they tried.
But, this is Boston, and Hauser is aware that tying a record simply isn’t enough to fully satisfy the TD Garden faithful.
“We tried our best, man,” Hauser said after the game on NBC Sports Boston. “We missed like 15 in a row but we were taking great shots. Ball was moving, finding the right guy. We just couldn’t get it to go, so sorry about that Boston.”
“Man, we got booed on ring night up 30. How about that?”
The crowd could sense that the Celtics were close, chanting “one more three” after Boston tied the record.
The Celtics kept firing away, aiming at delivering the record in front of their home crowd against a division rival. It didn’t work.
“I didn’t know but it was almost like we got jinxed or something,” Jaylen Brown said. “It was like when we were just playing, having fun, playing our style of basketball, everything was going in.
“And then once the crowd got into it and we started hunting them, we couldn’t even hit the broad side of the barn. Everything was off. We got a bunch of great looks and it was like a lid on the basket. So that just shows, like, we’re not a team that’s hunting 3s.”
It wasn’t meant to be, said Derrick White, who blamed himself for the jinx.
“I asked around 26 (made threes) what it was. Someone told me, and then we were tied and one away from the record. Shouldn’t have said anything. It’s kind of like a no-hitter. I blame myself for that one.”
“I had all the faith in those guys and they got unbelievable looks, but the basketball gods said no.”
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