If there were any doubts about how the Boston Celtics were going to play in 2026-27, you can erase them after just one preseason game against the Cleveland Cavaliers.

After just 48 minutes, we already know: The Celtics are going to be a three-point shooting monster, again.

Playing without its starters, the Celtics still managed a way to attempt 47 three-pointers in total, which was barely less than the number of two-pointers (52).

Boston went 17-of-47 (36 percent) from downtown and won the game 124-113. Five separate players attempted at least five 3's for Joe Mazzulla's team. That number will grow when Jayson Tatum, Payton Pritchard, Derrick White and Sam Hauser are on the floor.

Boston attempted 42.1 three-pointers a game last season, which was fourth-most in the NBA. The 15.5 they made was third-most. Mazzulla has simply decided to embrace analytics, which stipulates that three-pointers and drunks are the most efficient and valuable shots.

Whether you enjoy watching that kind of offense is rather irrelevant. This is who the C's are. And by the way, they led the NBA in three's made per game in 2024-25 and led in three's attempted as well.

They've been this way for a while.

Well, it's easy to see: The more three-pointers you take, and make, the more points you can score. The name of the game is scoring points and 3-pointers are a way to do that in bulk. There will be multiple nights this year where you see the Celtics score in the 130s and 140s.

Well, shooting doesn't always travel, especially in the playoffs when things are more physical. Look no further than last year's first round playoff exit against the Philadelphia 76ers. Boston went cold, and they lost in seven games.

Three-point shooting does tend to win in the regular season when things are more open. It doesn't win as often in the playoffs when the defense cracks down and the officials are more lenient on physical play.

I'm not going to lie: I had hoped all offseason to see the Celtics get a little more balanced offensively. I wanted to see them get the ball down low to Neemias Queta and Mitchell Robinson, and I wanted to see Jayson Tatum attack the rim when he can.

Now, with the three-pointer clearly the main driver of the offense, we just have to hope that Boston utilizes its big men to help generate easy shots for shooters in rhythm.