The Celtics could look to change up their style of play in 2026-27.
On Wednesday, the San Antonio Spurs blew a 29-point lead against the New York Knicks in Game 4 of the NBA Finals.
The collapse marks the biggest blown lead in Finals history and puts the Spurs just one game away from elimination as they trail the Knicks 3-1 in the best-of-seven.
How did the Spurs blow the lead and allow the Knicks to re-assume control of the series? Well, the three-point barrage from the first half dried up, and that's certainly part of it. San Antonio went 11-of-16 from beyond the arc at one point in the first half, but finished just 3-of-17 in the second half.
It's that fact right there that has Mark Dondero of 98.5 The Sports Hub in Boston convinced that the Boston Celtics need to change their style of play moving forward.
Three pointers destroy. San Antonio built that huge lead through three pointers. It’s forever a mirage. They always dry up and when they do the team that was living by them inevitably gets rattled and totally loses their way. Wake up Boston Celtics.
Why that's not a far-off comment
We've talked all offseason about if the Celtics need to change their style of play in 2026-27, and those thoughts are born out of what Brad Stevens said at the team's end of year press conference.
The Celtics went 56-26 in the regular season, earning the No. 2 seed in the Eastern Conference playoffs, but they were bounced in the first round by the Philadelphia 76ers. Part of the reason why Boston blew a 3-1 series lead against their rivals? The three-point shooting, to Dondero's point.
Boston attempted the fourth-most three-pointers per game (42.1), and they made the third-most (15.5) in the regular season, and even though they took a 3-1 series lead against Philly, the three-point shooting woes in losses were pronounced.
Game 7: 13-of-49 from three (27 percent)
Game 6: 12-of-41 (29 percent)
Game 5: 11-of-39 (28 percent)
Game 2: 13-of-50 (26 percent)
Can the Celtics find more balance?
So long as the Celtics have Payton Pritchard, Sam Hauser, Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum at the core of the offense, they are always going to be a perimeter-oriented team, but there are some things they can do.
Of course, they could trade Brown in a deal for Giannis Antetokounmpo, which would help immeasurably. But if they don't want to do that, the hope would be that Brown could become more of a mid-range and low-block player at times with Tatum back to help things out on the perimeter.
Furthermore, the Celtics could make a draft selection to help bring about some balance. They've been connected to big men like Tarris Reed Jr. of UConn, who are not outside threats and wouldn't add to the team's three-point dependencies.
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