BOSTON – Years from now it will be a great trivia question. Who were the first Celtics teammates to each get six 3-pointers in the same game?
Larry Bird and Danny Ainge?
Paul Pierce and Ray Allen?
Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown?
Nope. Nope and Nope.
History will recall that in the storied history of the Boston Celtics, the first teammates to each make six 3-pointers in the same game were Semi Ojeleye and Payton Pritchard.
They each shot 6-for-8 from outside in the Celtics’ 120-106 win over the Raptors, Thursday.
The Celtics Stats Twitter account, with an assist from the Elias Sports Bureau, discovered the mark.
Brad Stevens wasn’t surprised at their success.
“Those guys had open shots,” he said. “They’re both good shooters. Obviously, they’re not always going to shoot that percentage, but they’re going to make a lot of those.”
Pritchard was surprised to learn their place in history but pointed the credit to Ojeleye.
“That’s crazy. I’m just happy for my guy Semi,” said Pritchard who had 20 points. “He’s a shooter. He was strapping tonight. He should just keep on shooting. It’s money.”
Naturally, Ojeleye returned the praise.
“As far as P.P. he works so hard. I’m so happy for him. He’s one of those guys you see always working in the gym,” Ojeleye said. “By the time you walk in there, he’s in a full sweat. I’m happy to see him do well.”
With Marcus Smart still out and Robert Williams unavailable, Stevens started Ojeleye in a smaller lineup and wasn’t surprised with the success he had.
“Semi is a very reliable guy. He’s a very reliable player,” Stevens said. “I feel like you always know you can go to him and know exactly what you’re getting.”
Kemba Walker agreed.
“Semi was great. He hit his shots. Defensively he was great. We’re all really confident in Semi,” Walker said. “He works so hard. Tonight he shot with confidence and we just kep finding him. He kept shooting it and was seeing the results.”
Ojeleye was as happy with his approach as the result.
“I really try to focus on the process of shooting and not necessarily the result,” said Ojeleye, who had 24 points and six rebounds in 30 minutes. “If you get caught up in makes and misses you can ride that up and down. I just try to focus on shooting it the right way. God takes care of the rest.”
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