Sam Hauser was unstoppable. He couldn’t miss. The accurate shooter was well on his way to possibly setting some records in the Celtics’ lopsided win over the Wizards when he encountered some bad luck on Sunday night in the nation’s capital.
Hauser had 10 3-pointers in his possession early in the third quarter – just one away from equaling the Celtics’ single-game record – when he attempted another shot from the right corner with 7:53 left in the period. It didn’t go in, and he landed safely. However, as he was moving backward, Hauser accidentally stepped on someone’s foot on the Wizards’ bench, fell down, and didn’t get back up. He held his left ankle for a few moments before getting up under his own power and limping to the locker room.
Hauser did not rejoin the game. He didn’t need to as he had already achieved a career-high of 30 points, and the shorthanded Celtics were completely dominating the NBA-worst Wizards with a final score of 130-104. Jayson Tatum also scored 30 points with six assists in just 26 minutes, and Payton Pritchard provided a career-high 12 assists as the Celtics secured their fifth consecutive victory.
The Celtics – missing Jaylen Brown, Kristaps Porzingis, and Derrick White – once again demonstrated the quality of their depth, especially Hauser, who entered the starting lineup and successfully made 10 of his first 12 three-pointers. He fell short by one 3-pointer to equaling Marcus Smart’s single-game franchise record of 11 set in 2020, and he definitely would have challenged Klay Thompson’s NBA record of 14 3-pointers.
Hauser, who played for just 23 minutes, played the fewest minutes for a player with 10 or more 3-pointers in league history. He became the third Celtic in franchise history to make at least 10 3-pointers, joining Brown and Smart, before his unfortunate departure.
