The Celtics are attempting more threes (51.1) than twos (40.0) this season — a lopsided stat only registered once before in NBA history when the 2018-19 Rockets attempted 3.4 more threes than twos.
As such, Joe Mazzulla's team — on pace to shatter the record for most threes in a season — is very much to blame for the NBA's ongoing battle with the volume of deep shots.
Some analysts such as Shaquille O'Neal and Brian Windhorst have blamed the NBA's excessive three-point shooting for the declining ratings. Shaq believes fans are "looking at the same thing" every night with teams running actions that involve dribble-handoffs to threes, and that the mundanity of the product has made the game less interesting.
On Wednesday Mazzulla had an interesting response when asked if the game had become "boring" due to the excessive three-point attempts.
"It's an interesting perspective, because in the NFL, people aren't like, 'I want to see less scoring.' They're not going to make the end zones smaller," Mazzulla said, via WEEI's Justin Turpin. "They're not going to make the field smaller. Scoring is up across other sports. I guess my question would be why in basketball would scoring being up be an issue as opposed to other sports? Does anybody want to watch a football game and see less touchdowns?"
Joe Mazzulla on fans that believe watching teams jack up threes is boring:
— Justin Turpin (@JustinmTurpin) December 18, 2024
“In the NFL, people aren't like, ‘I want to see less scoring’ … Scoring is up across other sports. My question would be: Why in basketball is scoring being up an issue, as opposed to other sports? pic.twitter.com/cmeFNqvJbP
Interestingly, Mazzulla blamed himself for the NBA's viewership decline, noting that he doesn't watch games not involving his team.
Asked Joe Mazzulla on what he thinks about the NBA ratings discussion:
— Noa Dalzell (@NoaDalzell) December 18, 2024
“I add to that, I don’t watch NBA games. I’m just as much of a problem as everyone else.” pic.twitter.com/y57BymiU4L
Mazzulla's comments were likely tongue-in-cheek but represent a bigger problem for the NBA. Through last Saturday's NBA Cup semifinals, viewership for nationally-televised games (on TNT, ABC and ESPN) was down 19% year over year, per Sports Media Watch.
Furthermore, the ticket sales for the NBA Cup games in Las Vegas saw a drastic drop from last year. While some cited the lack of star power for the decline — the Lakers or Warriors didn't travel to Vegas — others blamed the poor quality of the on-court product.
NBA commissioner Adam Silver himself admitted that the league may have a three-point problem. While addressing reporters in Vegas, Silver said the NBA was "constantly having discussions" on "ways to improve stylistically the game on the floor."
The NBA's issue with excessive threes reached a boiling point last Friday when the Hornets and Bulls combined to miss a record 75 shots from deep. Don't be surprised if the NBA tweaks some rules — like taking away corner threes or limiting the number of threes — to curtail the problem after the 2024-25 season.
More must-reads:
Get the latest news and rumors, customized to your favorite sports and teams. Emailed daily. Always free!