Pretend someone just woke up from a 35-year coma. This person was a huge fan of the NBA. Prior to the coma, they enjoyed watching players such as Larry Bird, Magic Johnson, Isiah Thomas, Hakeem Olajuwon, Patrick Ewing, and a fairly young Michael Jordan. The game was truly beginning to blossom, and it was an enjoyable watch.
Thirty-five years ago was 1989. In the 1989-90 season, the Cleveland Cavaliers led the league averaging a whopping 10.4 attempts from beyond the arc. Knowing that, this NBA fan would probably be most surprised by the amount of three-pointers being attempted in today’s game. There have been seven teams since then that have averaged more than 10.4 three-point attempts PER QUARTER.
The three-point attempts keep going up and up, and that is no different early on in the 2024-25 season. As a matter of fact, the defending NBA champion Boston Celtics through 11 games are on pace to obliterate the record for most tries and makes from beyond the arc.
Boston Celtics On Pace To Obliterate Three-Point Records
Coming into this season, the record for most three-point attempts was by the 2018-19 Houston Rockets. They took 3,521 three-pointers, good for 45.1 per outing. The record for most three-point makes is held by the 2022-23 Golden State Warriors. They connected on 1,363 three-pointers that season, which amounts to around 16.2 per contest.
While the Celtics are just 11 games deep into the 2024-25 season and have 71 games remaining, both of those records certainly look to be in peril. On Sunday, they defeated the Milwaukee Bucks 113-107 to improve their record to 9-2. In that game, they went 19-50 from beyond the arc.
After Sunday’s game, they have now attempted 564 three-pointers and connected on 204 of them. Doing the math, that is around 18.5 makes from deep per game and 51.3 attempts from beyond the arc. The Celtics have three players who have made at least 40 threes in the team’s first 11 games. They are Jayson Tatum with 47, Payton Pritchard with 43, and Derrick White with 40. Two others have made at least 20: Jrue Holiday (22) and Al Horford (20).
Celtics Were Bombing Three-Pointers Starting On Opening Night
It was a harbinger of things to come for the Celtics on opening night of the NBA regular season. That night, they easily defeated the New York Knicks by the score of 132-109. Boston tied an NBA record that night by nailing 29 three-pointers. They attempted 61 total, and had numerous chances at the end to set a new record for threes made in a game, but failed to do so.
While they haven’t reached either of those totals in their ensuing 10 games, it still has been bombs away from long range. Only once this season have less than half of their field goal attempts been from three-point territory. Around 56.3% of their field goal attempts have been three-pointers. Keep in mind they have been without the services of Kristaps Porzingis thus far on the season. He attempted 5.1 per game from three-point range last season.
Boston’s 42.5 three-point attempts in 2023-24 were the most in the NBA. They ended up winning the championship, so why not attempt even more?
