Celtics shooting goes AWOL again in Game 2 loss

Boston led by as many as 20 points late in the third quarter, but lost 91-90, in part because they shot 2-of-14 from behind the arc in the last 15 minutes of the game. The Celtics missed 45 of their 60 three-pointers in their overtime loss in Game 1. While they reduced the volume of their threes in Game 2, they continued to miss 75 percent of their triples, going 10-of-40.

The Celtics offense is geared to create and take the most three-pointers possible. But they aren't the best three-point shooting team by percentage. Their 36.8 percent mark ranks only 10th in the NBA, which isn't bad but also isn't awesome. Maximizing their three-point attempts is the Celtics' Plan A on offense, but it often feels like they don't have a Plan B. 

Wednesday, they did go for a two-pointer late, getting a Jayson Tatum dunk to take the lead. 

Celtics coach Joe Mazzulla called the same play for the team's final possession, and Tatum got smothered by Mikal Bridges.

In the last 15 minutes of Wednesday's Game 2, the only two Celtics threes came from Sixth Man of the Year Payton Pritchard. With Kristaps Porzingis limited by illness, 38-year-old Al Horford has been forced to play heavy minutes, and he's 1-of-10 from three-point range in this series.

The Celtics' struggles are reminiscent of the 2017-18 Houston Rockets, who also led the NBA in three-point volume, though they were just 14th in three-point percentage. In their final playoff loss, they missed 27 straight three-pointers, finishing 7-of-44 from deep.

Over-reliance on three-pointers works great over the course of the season. In the playoffs, with teams able to scout and study, a squad needs to have more than three-point volume to prevail. The Celtics are running out of time to show what else they have.