Celtics open Game 7 vs. Heat with dreadful 3-point shooting performance
BOSTON -- Under Joe Mazzulla, the Boston Celtics live and die by the three. On Monday night in a charged-up TD Garden for Game 7, Boston experienced the latter.
The Celtics started cold from behind the arc, and it snowballed.
Jaylen Brown missed the C's first 3-point attempt, though Jayson Tatum grabbed an offensive board and assisted on an Al Horford layup to salvage the possession.
Derrick White missed the next Boston three, then Marcus Smart missed one, and then White missed two on the same possession.
Al Horford threw up an ugly three, Brown missed another one, and then Malcolm Brogdon airballed his first three attempt.
Brown missed another three in the final minute of the quarter, and the Celtics ended that first quarter with just 15 points on 0-of-10 shooting from three.
The woeful shooting continued into the second quarter. Brogdon missed a three on Boston's first possession of the second quarter, and -- coming out of a timeout while trailing by 12 -- White missed another three.
After starting the game 0-for-12 from three-point range (with White missing four of those), Horford finally dropped one in from beyond the arc. That shot cut Miami's lead to 27-18 at the time, giving Boston its first points of the second quarter.
The crowd let out a sigh of relief after that Horford shot dropped through the net. But certainly, nobody in Boston was hoping to wait 14:07 of game time before seeing the home team sink a shot from deep.
It never got much better, as the Celtics went 9-for-42 (21.4%) in the 103-84 loss that ended their season.
