Jaylen Brown Discredits Knicks' Defense Despite Celtics Missing 45 Shots From Three-Point Line In Game 1

The Knicks stunned the Celtics at home after coming back from a 20-point deficit in the third quarter to force overtime and win the game 108-105 at the TD Garden. The biggest storyline other than the result of the game was the fact that the Celtics missed 45 shots from beyond the three-point line. This is the record for most missed three-point shots in a Playoff game during the modern era in the NBA.

After the game, Jaylen Brown was asked how the Knicks' defense was different from what Orlando Magic did in the first round. He essentially claimed that the Knicks were a non-factor in them missing these many shots from beyond the arc. “Orlando kinda took the three-point line away. It felt like [the Knicks] were kinda daring us to shoot, like they wanted us to shoot those shots. We didn’t make them tonight.” he said.

"But I felt like we had a ton of good looks, some maybe we forced up and we settled for sure and we'll look at those and be better at those, but that's an abnormal game for us in terms of shooting the basketball. All our guys we trust, we have great shooters on this team. So we'll look at film as a team and approach it that way and forward", he further added.

The Celtics' All-Star, Brown went 1 of 10 from the three-point line as he scored 23 points in 45 minutes played in the game. His shooting efficiency was terrible today as he made only seven of his 20 field goal attempts, shooting only 35% from the floor. 

Among other key players who struggled today were Jayson Tatum and Derrick White. Tatum went 4 of 15 from the three-point line as he also scored 23 points for the Celtics, shooting 30.4% from the floor and 26.7% from beyond the arc. White also struggled as he went 5 of 16 from the arc (31.3%) for his 19 points in the game.   

Celtics Now Hold Best And Worst Three-Point Records

In the same season and against the same team, the Celtics have managed to write their name on both ends of the three-point shot record book. On October 22, 2024, when the Celtics got their championship rings from last season, they tied the Milwaukee Bucks for the most three-point shots made in a single NBA game at 29. They played that game against the Knicks at home in TD Garden. 

Ironically, they also broke the record for most missed three-point shots in a Playoff game against the Knicks at home in TD Garden. They have witnessed both ends of the spectrum in terms of what happens when your offense is too reliant on threes. Maybe they need to move away from this style and should at least prepare a 'Plan B' for Game 2 of this series.