After struggling early in the season with his long-range jumper, Boston Celtics forward Sam Hauser has found his stroke in the month of January.

Hauser was 6-of-8 from the floor and 5-of-7 from three-point range on Wednesday night as the C's toppled the Indiana Pacers in an Eastern Conference Finals rematch 119-104. 

In the wake of devastating Achilles' injuries to their stars, these teams have gone in opposite directions. Even without Jayson Tatum, the Celtics are 27-16 and in second place in the Eastern Conference. Without Tyrese Haliburton, the Pacers are 10-35 and just 2-19 on the road. Both were injured in the 2025 playoffs.

Hauser also had six rebounds and three assists in the victory. His five threes also put him at the top of an impressive leaderboard for the month.

Per Justin Turpin of WEEI on social media:

Made threes in January:

1.) Trey Murphy III - 42

2.) Sam Hauser - 41

Hauser has made multiple threes in each of his 10 games this month, shooting 41-of-85 (48.2%)

"That’s a great sign for our team," said Jaylen Brown 

Now in his fifth season out of Virginia, the sharpshooter has spent his entire career with Boston. He's averaging 8.9 ppg for the season, but is now scoring at 14.4 ppg over his last 10. He's scored double-figures in four of his last five games, including a 30-point outburst against Atlanta on Jan. 17.

For his career, he's averaging 7.6 ppg. He helped the Celtics win the NBA championship in 2023-24 when they beat the Dallas Mavericks.

Despite the injury to Tatum and the offseason roster trades of Jrue Holliday and Kristaps Porzingis, Boston is now 27-16 and in second place in the Eastern Conference. Though they are 5.5 games behind first-place Detroit, they appear to be ready to contend again in the East, and there's still the chance that Tatum returns from injury at some point this season.

Boston is 1.5 games ahead of third place New York and Toronto, who are tied.

The Celtics will take on the Brooklyn Nets on Friday night at the Barclays Center. The Nets are just 12-30 on the season and 6-16 at home. Boston has gone 14-9 on the road as they continue to play well. Tip-off time is set for 7:30 p.m. ET and will air for Celtics fans on NBC Sports Boston.

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