Taking a look at Boston's insane hot hand from three

If I had told you in October that the Celtics would make more three-pointers than the Warriors at this point (or any point) in the season, would you have believed me? No, I wouldn't have either. Yet, here we are in January and Boston has made the third most treys in the league, one spot higher than Steph Curry, Klay Thompson, Kevin Durant, and the Golden State Warriors:



It's not often that a team shoots better from three than from inside the arc, but that's how ridiculous Boston has been shooting lately:



The league has come a long way in terms of three-point shooting, and the way the Celtics have evolved into a three-heavy squad (whether that is a good thing or a bad thing) emphasizes this. Think about the Larry Bird era -- mid-range and post play were significantly relied on, especially compared to now. After all, the three-point line was only just implemented for Bird's rookie season. Check out the general trend since it was adopted in 1979:


This 2016-17 Celtics team has been taking it to a whole other level though. As you can see on the graph, I adjusted the 2016-17 made threes from the current mark (436) to the amount they are on pace for by the end of 82 games (787). That is a ton of treys.

In particular, they have been on fire during this past four game homestand. During that span, they splashed more threes than some former teams have made in a whole season:



Here's an even crazier stat to really hammer this home: The C's have done something these last two games that wasn't done in any franchise game beforehand:





Many people have a problem with the amount of three balls the Celtics have been taking this year, but can you still be upset when they are netting more than 50% of their attempts and shooting more efficiently than anywhere else on the court?



Follow Erik Johnson on Twitter: @erikjohnson32

Photo Credit: BARRY CHIN/GLOBE STAFF
Share