It’s either their way or no way at all—and for Joe Mazzulla’s Boston Celtics, that way starts way beyond the arc. This team lives and dies by the three, setting a new standard from deep and even passing the 2022-23 Warriors for most threes made in a regular season. Jayson Tatum, Derrick White, and Payton Pritchard have turned the perimeter into their personal playground, launching bombs like it’s second nature. But here’s the twist—last night, the shots didn’t fall. And when the threes go cold, so does Boston’s momentum. The question is: can a team built on the long ball afford to have no backup plan?

Game 1 in Boston looked like it was heading for a Celtics blowout—until the Knicks said not so fast. Down 20 in the second half, New York clawed all the way back and stunned the Garden crowd with a wild 108-105 overtime win. Mikal Bridges sealed it, yanking a potential game-tying three right out of Jaylen Brown’s hands in the final seconds. Tatum had 23 points, 16 boards, and 6 assists, but missed a step-back three late. Jalen Brunson dropped 29 and 5 but couldn’t hit the game-winner either. And OG Anunoby? He was a force—29 points, and the closer New York needed to steal home court.

The game had people talking. And not just fans. On Run It Back, Chandler Parsons and Lou Williams couldn’t believe what they saw. Parsons called it out straight: “15 to 60 is ridiculous,” pointing to Boston’s wild obsession with jacking up threes. That’s 45 missed threes. Not only is that a brutal stat, it’s a brand-new NBA playoff record. The Timberwolves had just set the mark this postseason with 40 missed threes against the Lakers, but Boston said, ‘Hold my Gatorade’ and blew right past it.

“This is what this team does,” Parsons said, almost in disbelief. And honestly, he’s not wrong. Tatum kept bouncing between attacking the rim and settling from deep, and the balance just wasn’t there. Even Brown admitted it afterward: “In momentum moments, we can’t just fire up 3s and settle.” But that’s exactly what they did—and it cost them home court.

Lou didn’t sugarcoat anything and vented exactly what so many fans were thinking: “I just hate the fact that it was in this fashion, like at some point somebody gotta say, ‘yo, let’s attack the basket. Let’s play in the mid-range. This is not going our way. Our lead is slipping away. This team is gaining momentum on us and we’re just shooting ourselves in the foot by taking so many low-range 3-pointers.’” He wasn’t wrong. Boston kept leaning on low-percentage threes even as the game slipped away—finishing just 25% from beyond the arc (15-of-60), while the Knicks lit it up at 54.8%, as per StatMuse.

Lou pointed to one moment in particular: “Like one of my biggest things that I saw last night, this is a tied ball game or it’s a 1-point game, and Jayson Tatum took 3 straight 3-pointers under 2 minutes in this basketball game. Like at some point when you miss the first one or you miss the second one, I’m gonna attack the rim or I’m gonna play in the mid-range.” It’s not about abandoning your style. It’s about knowing when to adapt. Boston didn’t—and it cost them, and the stats back them up.

Lou summed it up perfectly: “They’re gonna live and die by the 3-point line, and they died by it last night.” He also pointed out that neither team played perfect—Brunson struggled, the Celtics looked flat—but the Knicks found other ways to stay alive. “Free throws… mid-range… that’ll get you across the finish line,” Lou said. “You don’t need the big dagger three to win the game.” But Boston went all-in on it—and now they’re down 0-1, with questions that go deeper than just cold shooting. What was on Joe Mazzulla’s mind in the game?

Three-point tunnel vision sinks Joe Mazzulla’s game plan

“We left some of their good shooters open,” Celtics coach Joe Mazzulla said after the game. “They were able to get out in transition off of some of our misses. They had a 5-0 run off of offensive rebounds… I thought we missed some good ones, and I thought there were a few we could fight to get better on.” And that’s pretty much the story of how a 20-point lead turned into a 108-105 overtime heartbreaker. The Celtics were rolling, up big in the second half, but from that point on, they were outscored 56-33.

But let’s talk about the real elephant in the room: the threes. Mazzulla didn’t back down from defending the team’s shot selection, even when it was clear the 3s weren’t dropping. “I loved the vast majority of them,” he said. “Though there were 10 or 11 you could probably take back.” But when that stat was brought up in the presser, Mazzulla cracked, “So they made them? Man, what a novel idea… That’s a novel concept, huh? Just make ‘em when you’re open?” It was sarcasm, sure—but also frustration creeping through.

Pressed further about the missed shots, Mazzulla quipped, “It’s such a cool duality of your question to where I’m getting asked all the ones that we missed, and you come in and start with, ‘Well, they shot 50% (from three) in the second half.’” He continued, laughing, “Yeah, you’ve got to make them. Duality at its finest.” The sarcasm was clear, but so was the underlying frustration.

And here’s the thing: most of those 60 threes Boston took? They were clean looks. According to NBA tracking, 56 of them were either “open” or “wide open,” and still, they just wouldn’t fall. That lack of execution, combined with poor transition defense and second-chance breakdowns, doomed the Celtics. Injuries didn’t help either—Kristaps Porzingis was ruled out with an illness after a rough start, and Sam Hauser tweaked his ankle in the third. But the biggest blow? Losing home-court advantage. Boston hadn’t trailed in a playoff series since 2023. Even during their 2024 title run, they never played from behind.

Now, Game 2 on Wednesday is a must-win, and Joe Mazzulla’s crew has some serious regrouping to do—because living by the three nearly gave them a championship last year, but right now? It’s threatening to bury them.