Celtics' Jaylen Brown comes across tone-deaf after Game 1 loss

The Celtics missed an NBA playoff record 45 threes in their Game 1 loss to the Knicks on Monday night.

It was apparent that the Celtics' "live and die by the three" mantra cost them dearly, but equally shocking was their refusal to alter course. In the third quarter, for example, 19 of their 20 field-goal attempts were threes, and the trend continued in the final period when they jacked up another 15 threes from 21 shot attempts.

After the game, Jaylen Brown, who shot 1-of-10 from distance, criticized his teammates for not mixing up the offense when the threes weren't falling, especially when the Knicks went on their fourth-quarter run.

"In those moments when the other team has the momentum, you can't just fire up threes to break up momentum," Brown stressed. "You've got to get to the free throw line, get to the paint, get to the basket. You hit some free throws and then maybe the next 3-pointer feels a little bit better. I feel like we just settled." 

Brown comes across rather tone-deaf, considering he missed five of his team's 19 threes in the third period when the Knicks made their comeback. As a locker-room leader, the 2024 NBA Finals MVP could have taken the initiative to urge his teammates to attack the paint rather than settling for threes. 

Shaquille O'Neal agrees with that sentiment. 

"Jaylen Brown made interesting points, but he needed to have the wherewithal to make that point during the game," O'Neal said. "He could have said, 'Hey man, we're shooting too many threes.'"

Drawing on his own experience, Shaq said he asked shooters on his teams to stop jacking up shots when they weren't falling in close playoff games, and that Brown could have taken a similar approach. 

For the record, 45 of the Celtics' 60 attempts were "uncontested" threes, of which they missed 32, per ESPN Research. As such, Boston is likely to continue shooting bombs away for the rest of the series, especially if New York struggles to close out on its snipers.