‘Some days the 3-point shooting gets a little much’: Kevin McHale on watching the Celtics this season - The Boston Globe
Kevin McHale was a seven-time All-Star who won three NBA championships during his Hall of Fame career with the Celtics. But when the big man is at home watching his former team play, his general view tends to align with a vocal segment of the fan base.
“Some days the 3-point shooting contest gets a little bit much for me and I do some head shaking,” McHale said by telephone this week. “Basketball has changed in a lot of ways. So, the Celtics — I like them and I think [coach] Joe Mazzulla has done a good job. But I just think there comes a time when the ball has got to touch the paint. You’ve got to attack, you’ve got to put people on their heels, and you’ve got to collapse a defense.”
The Celtics have relied on the 3-pointer throughout Mazzulla’s tenure, and the approach helped produce an NBA title two years ago. But the Celtics were exposed during their first-round playoff loss to the seventh-seeded 76ers in which they became the first team in franchise history to cough up a 3-1 series lead.
Boston combined to make just 49 of 179 3-pointers (22.9 percent) in its four losses to Philadelphia. McHale, who played for the Celtics from 1980-93, and later coached the Timberwolves and Rockets over parts of seven seasons, believes the Celtics need to be more willing to adjust.
“We were never caught out of rhythm with Larry [Bird], because if Plan A wasn’t working, he went to Plan B,” McHale said. “And if Plan B wasn’t working, he went to Plan C. If C wasn’t working, he went to D. It wasn’t, ‘I’m just going to do what’s not working.’
“If I came out and made my first three 15-footers, I wasn’t going to come out and battle everybody in the paint and get beat up. I was going to shoot my 15-footers and have a good time. If that wasn’t working, I’d say, ‘Here we go.’ And I’d pump fake, drive to the hole, get fouled, and get hammered, because there were no flagrants. I wasn’t going to do what wasn’t working.”
McHale, now 68, who made just 41 3-pointers during his career, understands that the game has shifted dramatically since he played. Analytics experts value 3-pointers more highly than ever. But McHale pointed out that the Thunder and Spurs, the favorites to win this year’s title, ranked outside the top 10 in 3-point attempts during the regular season.
“OKC, when they need a hoop, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is not taking a three,” McHale said. “And I think both Jaylen Brown and [Jayson] Tatum can get to that spot and can work from the elbows.”
McHale believes that Tatum and Brown remain a productive tandem that should stay together, stressing that no opponent has two wing defenders capable of shutting them down simultaneously. But he said it is important for them to enjoy each other’s success.
He recalled one game in which former teammate Jerry Sichting, who averaged just 5.9 points per game over three years in Boston, had a scoring eruption.
“So Larry comes in and looks at the stat sheet and we’re all having a beer, and Larry goes, ‘Damn, Jerry, you had 27? Hell, that’d be like me having 100.’ And he handed him another beer,” McHale said. “But we enjoyed the fact that Jerry had one of those nights.”
Tatum and Brown, of course, are both capable of pouring in 30 points in any game. But McHale’s point was that a strong bond will be essential in the coming years.
Tatum has said often that although the 2023-24 title was gratifying, he understands that in Boston it takes more to truly enter the conversation of all-time greats. McHale said that the franchise’s run of success over the past decade should not be taken for granted, however.
“[Tatum and Brown] started off together kind of like Larry and I,” he said. “They’ve had a seven- or eight-year run, and that’s all you’re trying to do. The object is to have a six-, seven-, eight-year run where you’re relevant. We went to the Finals five times and the conference finals a couple other times. And I think it’s harder to do now because of the different [salary-cap] aprons and the amount of money.
“But you’re trying to be relevant and inside that relevancy you hope you hang a few banners. They got one, and I’d love to see those guys get another one. But it ain’t easy, I promise you that.”
Adam Himmelsbach can be reached at adam.himmelsbach@globe.com. Follow him @adamhimmelsbach.