Halftime Hot Takes: This sure is a lot of threes

So far tonight, the Celtics and Timberwolves have leaned into the bit and launched more than 50 combined threes

Decriers of the NBA’s elevated three-point shooting rates may not be enjoying the front end of tonight’s NBA on TNT doubleheader. The Boston Celtics and Minnesota Timberwolves took the court in Minneapolis tonight and — much to the chagrin of TNT’s Stan Van Gundy — have put on a display that almost resembles a three-point contest as much as a regular season basketball game. Combined, the two teams have put up a whopping 52 three-point attempts, compared to just 32 shots coming from inside the arc.

That’s a lot of threes!

These are two of the NBA’s most prolific teams from deep this season. Entering play tonight, no team has matched the Celtics’ 50.4 attempts per game. — indeed, no other team is even cracking 45 attempts at the moment. Five other teams are taking at least 40, though, and sitting at the end of that list are the Wolves, putting up 40.3 triples per night and cashing them in at a 37.2% rate.

You may think that the Timberwolves seem an unlikely team to rank that highly in the category, given that they start a complete non-shooter in Rudy Gobert and swapped his floor-spacing counterpart, Karl-Anthony Towns, for a mid-volume/mid-efficiency shooter in Julius Randle. Add in a poor wing shooter in Jaden McDaniels, and the ingredients would seem to be there for a stagnant, paint-bound offense with significant challenges in scoring efficiency.

Thus far, that hasn’t been an inaccurate assessment of the Wolves. Coming into tonight, they ranked just 22nd in the NBA with an offensive rating of 110.6. But as we’ve seen tonight, this isn’t stemming from a lack of threat from range. They’re clearly generating attempts, with five players putting up at least 4.8 per game and a sixth (Nickeil Alexander-Walker) hovering around four.

Leading the way — Anthony Edwards. One of the NBA’s most exciting downhill threats has evolved into its most prolific three-point shooters. Edwards is chucking up just shy of 10 attempts per game, entering play as the NBA’s leader in made threes with a whopping 129, edging out Cleveland’s Donovan Mitchell and Detroit’s Malik Beasley. The 23-year-old has taken the spacing burden to heart to a staggering extent. Tonight, though, he hasn’t quite found the touch. He’s converted only one of his six attempts from deep.

For Boston’s part, this has been a data point for people who would argue that their offense leans too heavily into three-point shooting at the expense of a diversified offense. A hefty 66% of their total shots coming from behind the arc is an almost parodic figure. What we may be seeing, however, is also the absence of Jaylen Brown and Kristaps Porzingis — players who, as it happens, offer the team’s most reliable sources of rim pressure. Stepping into their lineup slots are Sam Hauser and Al Horford, two players who certainly can’t replicate that impact.

They certainly can shoot, though. Hauser’s four made threes lead the game/Celtics thus far, and having now connected on 11 of his 21 attempts over the past three games, his early season slump has never felt further in the rear-view.

What’s more: it’s working. The Celtics have moved the ball effectively all night, and they’ve begun to bury Minnesota in sheer volume. They followed up 28 first quarter points with 36 in the second, while their defense (aided by some sloppy Minnesota turnovers) cut off the air on the Timberwolves offense. At the halftime break, after all that, the Celtics currently lead 64-51.

What does this all mean? Perhaps not much. It is January 2, after all. The Celtics aren’t at full strength, and they aren’t going to be pulling out all the stops against a Western Conference opponent before even the midway point of the season. Minnesota, meanwhile, may have leaned into a style of basketball that is growing unpopular, but they’re also proving it isn’t as much of an easy-win button as some have suggested. There’s no replacement for spacing and ball movement, in the end.

With 52 three-point attempts behind us, how many could we be looking at tonight? Let’s get some predictions in the comments below — are we going to see 100?