Celtics on pace to set multiple NBA 3-point shooting records

The Boston Celtics put on their own 3-point shootout almost every game, and it’s been an enormously successful strategy for them.

It helped the Celtics win the 2024 NBA Finals last season, and this season it has paved the way for an impressive 19-5 start — good for second place in the Eastern Conference.

Before the 2024-25 campaign, we looked at four 3-point NBA records the Celtics could break. They are currently on pace to break three of them.

Here’s a breakdown of their progress so far:

Most 3-point shots made

NBA record: 1,363 by the 2022-23 Golden State Warriors

2024-25 Celtics: 456 (Current pace: 1,558)

The Celtics are hitting 19 3-pointers per game, which puts them on pace to make 1,558 total over the full 82-game schedule. So even if the C’s shoot a slightly worse percentage the rest of the season, they should still break this record. And if their percentage goes up a bit, they might even shatter the Warriors’ record.

The Celtics have hit 38 more 3-pointers than the Chicago Bulls in second place, and Boston has played one fewer game than Chicago as of Tuesday.

Most 3-point shots made per game

NBA record: 16.74 by the 2020-21 Utah Jazz

2024-25 Celtics: 19.0

The Celtics are on pace to comfortably set a new record for most 3-point shots made per game. This isn’t too surprising when you consider the fact they are attempting a record 51.4 per game (more on that below), but it’s impressive nonetheless.

The Celtics have three players — Jayson Tatum (3.8), Payton Pritchard (3.7) and Derrick White (3.6) — making three or more 3-pointers per game.

The Chicago Bulls rank No. 2 with 16.7 3-pointers made per game, so they might beat the old record as well.

Highest 3-point shooting percentage

NBA record: 42.8 percent by the 1996-97 Charlotte Hornets

2024-25 Celtics: 37 percent

Of all the records listed in this story, this one is probably the most unlikely to be broken by the C’s. Not only is shooting better than 42.8 percent extremely difficult, it’s even harder to do when you take as many 3-point shots as the Celtics.

The Celtics are hitting 37 percent of their 3-point attempts, which ranks 13th in the league. The Cleveland Cavaliers rank No. 1 at 40.4 percent.

It wouldn’t be surprising if the Celtics’ percentage slowly goes up because there’s plenty of room for improvement with several individual players.

Jaylen Brown is shooting 34 percent from 3-point range, which is 1.4 percent worse than last season. Tatum is at 36.4 percent, or 1.2 percent below last year.

Jrue Holiday has declined quite a bit from 3-point range. He’s shooting 32.8 percent after hitting a career-high 42.9 percent of his attempts last season. Holiday shot 4-of-17 from beyond the arc in Monday’s loss to the Memphis Grizzlies. What’s causing the dip for Holiday? He led the league with a 60.4 percentage on corner 3-point attempts last season, and he’s down to 30.6 percent on those same shots this year.

Sam Hauser also has decreased a bit, going from 42.4 percent last season to 36.8 percent this season. Al Horford is at 41.4 percent, which is almost identical to his 2023-24 rate.

Payton Pritchard is shooting a career-high 43 percent after making 38.5 percent of his 3-pointers last season. He has seen the largest jump in 3-point percentage on the team.

Most 3-point shots attempted per game

NBA record: 45.38 by the 2018-19 Houston Rockets

2024-25 Celtics: 51.4

This is the record most likely to be broken by the Celtics, simply because you can fully control how many 3-pointers you attempt. If the Celtics keep shooting 50-plus 3-pointers per game, they will shatter the all-time record. They currently attempt 7.9 more 3-point shots than any other team. There are just six teams shooting 40 or more 3-pointers per game.

Boston has five players — Tatum (10.5), White (9.1), Pritchard (8.6), Brown (7.6) and Kristaps Porzingis (7.0) — averaging seven or more 3-point attempts per game. Tatum ranks third among all players at 10.5 per game.

The Celtics are in a league of their own when it comes to attempting shots from beyond the arc.

More Celtics coverage

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