Sam Hauser was chasing one Celtics record at the start of the fourth quarter in Saturday’s blowout win over the Hawks. He fell short in that quest but ended up entering the NBA record books anyway by the time his night was over.
The sharpshooting forward set a new career-high with 10 made 3-point field goals against the Hawks. He also ended up attempting 21 shots on the night, all from 3-point range. That ended up being the most 3-point shot attempts in NBA history without attempting a 2-point field goal. The previous high was 17.
Why such a high total? Hauser had an ample opportunity to tie the Celtics franchise record of most 3-point field goals in a game (11 held by Marcus Smart) but six straight misses in the fourth quarter doomed that quest.
“At that point it was just like, let’s get them up, let’s see what happens,” Hauser said. “And then I got dead tired. The last couple, they were on line, they were just way short. So it is what it is. I’m glad Joe left me in to try. Appreciate my teammates for just kind of giving me the ball and being okay with that and let me kind of just throw them up there. But, maybe next time.”
Hauser was the only starter left on the floor at the start of the fourth quarter with the game no longer in doubt as Joe Mazzulla joined Hauser’s teammates in wanting him to go for the record.
“It’s a credit to him. I think he should, in a situation like that, go after it,” Mazzulla said. “It’s a credit to his teammates. Just kind of said, I’ll give it a feel. Obviously you don’t want to disrespect the game or leave him out there too long. So I thought we gave it a shot but didn’t come up with it but kind of moved on. Obviously he deserves to go after something like that and I thought his teammates did a great job of finding him.”
Falling short of the Celtics’ record books did not spoil what was a historic night for Hauser and Boston’s offense especially in the first half. The 28-year-old knocked down all six of his 3s in the second quarter as Boston put up a season-high 82 points before intermission.
“Everything you put up, it just feels like it’s going to go in or it’s going to feel really good,” Hauser said. “And that’s just kind of how it was tonight. And got a couple early open looks, which kind of set the table for that. And I just tried to keep it going from there.”
Hauser’s performance continued a stellar January since he re-entered the starting five for Boston.. He’s shooting 44 percent from 3-point range in that stretch while knocking down multiple 3s in every game this month.
Hauser will try to sustain that momentum in a tougher challenge on Monday night as Boston closes out their four-game road trip in Detroit against the top team in the Eastern Conference.
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