Sam Hauser 'got dead tired' chasing Boston Celtics 3-point record in Atlanta

ATLANTA -- Sam Hauser really wanted that 11th 3-pointer.

His 10th was a beauty. He faked running to the corner, spun around a pin-down screen from Amari Williams, caught it on the move, and flicked it in as his momentum took him to half court. He hooted on this way down the floor, which was the wrong bird sound for the environment but the right exultation for someone who was feeling it the way he was.

“Everything you put up, it just feels like it’s going to go in,” Hauser said of the moment. “And that's just kind of how it was tonight. Got a couple early open looks, which kind of set the table for that. And I just tried to keep it going from there.”

Maybe he tried a little too hard.

The Celtics team record for made 3-pointers is 11, held by Marcus Smart. But no matter how hard he tried, Hauser couldn't get one more to drop. So either Smart is such a good defender that he subliminally willed the shots out of the rim, or something else led to a quick success of six misses from deep.

“At that point it was just like, let's get them up, let’s see what happens. And then I got dead tired,” Hauser said. “The last couple, they were on line, they were just way short. So it is what it is. I'm glad Joe left me in to try. Appreciate my teammates for just kind of giving me the ball and being okay with that and let me kind of just throw them up there. But, maybe next time.”

There's always a chance for a next time with Hauser, who has now hit 10 3-pointers twice in his career. The last time was in Washington when he hurt his ankle about halfway through the third quarter.

"I was in the back and I was like, 'Bro, you gotta get back out there. I need you to get that record,’” Jaylen Brown said. “He was like, 'Ah, it's going to come back to me.' … That was two years ago. So I'm like, this was his chance. There might not be another two years.”

At that point, Hauser had moved within earshot of Brown because he was next in line to talk to the media. So Brown started to pour on it on. “It was a joy to watch, man, we was all rooting for him. I wanted him to get it. Probably was a little too much pressure on him."

Hauser got a kick out of Brown’s ribbing, and the reason why there was even any ribbing to be had was because Joe Mazzulla allowed Hauser to chase the record for a few extra minutes. Opportunities like that, as Brown joked, are actually infrequent. And Mazzulla asks Hauser to do a lot of work outside his comfort zone, so letting him cook inside it for once feels like a nice reward.

“I think he should, in a situation like that, go after it,” Mazzulla said. “Obviously you don’t want to disrespect the game or leave him out there too long. So I thought we gave it a shot but didn’t come up with it but kind of moved on. Obviously he deserves to go after something like that and I thought his teammates did a great job of finding him.”

Hauser went through a pretty nasty slump earlier in the season, but that seems to be history. His father, the man who taught him how to shoot as a child, is regularly in touch with advice about who that shot is looking from an outside perspective. Whatever adjustments they’ve made have worked. After a 27.5% November, Hauser shot 40.8% in December and is currently at 45% in January. His overall 3-point percentage is at 39%, creeping up to that 40% mark that he’s never fallen below for a whole season.

If he can get himself back into whatever zone he was in during this game in Atlanta, he’ll get back over 40% in no time, and maybe he’ll snag that record once and for all.

“I don't know if you called it a flow state or a zone or what it was,” Hauser said, “But I was in one of those.”