ATLANTA — In the background of a brilliant, overachieving Celtics season, Sam Hauser has quietly become a starter.
The fifth-year Celtics veteran rarely makes the headlines. He’s not one of the team’s shiny young prospects, nor is he one of their established go-to guys. He hardly ever puts up crazy numbers — Hauser has only eclipsed 20 points in a game three times this season — and he’s not so young that Celtics fans gush over his sky-high potential, like they do the more recent draftees.
But that doesn’t mean Hauser hasn’t been exactly what the Celtics have needed this season.
While Jordan Walsh, Josh Minott, and Hugo Gonzalez have all had hyped-up, breakthrough moments this year, Hauser has simply done what everyone’s expected.
He’s defended solidly, and shot the ball well. And, he’s embraced an ever-changing role, unbothered by whether or not he’s coming off the bench or starting: “It really doesn’t matter to me, to be honest with you,” he said on Thursday.
On Saturday night, in a 132-106 Celtics win over the Atlanta Hawks, Hauser was at his very best, exploding for 30 points on 10-21 shooting. It’s a flow state he’s reached many times throughout his Celtics tenure, and one all sharpshooters can resonate with.
“Everything you put up, it just feels like it’s going to go in, or it’s going to feel really good,” Hauser said afterwards. “And that’s just kind of how it was tonight.”
Hauser didn’t end up breaking the Celtics franchise record for most threes in a game; after hitting his 10th three-pointer early in the fourth quarter, he missed six straight three-pointers to close the game. (Marcus Smart currently holds the Celtics’ franchise record for most three-pointers in a game, having made 11 in a 2020 game).
As his pursuit of the record went to the wayside, Hauser’s teammates joked around on the bench.
“It was terrible,” Jaylen Brown said, laughing, while Hauser hovered over Brown’s postgame press conference with a listening ear.
Brown, fresh off a 41-point performance of his own, recalled how the last time Hauser came close to setting the Celtics record for most three-pointers in a game, he sprained his ankle shortly after hitting his 10th three-pointer.
“I didn’t play that game, and I was in the back, and I was like, ‘Bro, you got to get back out there. I need you to get that record,” Brown recalled. “And he was like, ‘Oh, it’s gonna come back to me.‘ That was two years ago…. It might be another two years.”
“But it was a joy to watch, man,” Brown said. “We was all rooting for him.”
After a slow start, Sam Hauser’s shooting has come back around
Hauser dealt with a shooting slump in the early part of the season, but the numbers are coming back around. Since December 1st, he’s hit 43% of his three-point attempts (in contrast, in November, he shot 27.5% from outside the arc).
When the shot wasn’t falling, Hauser consulted his father, whom he refers to as the ‘Shot Doctor.’ Dave Hauser taught Sam how to shoot as a kid and regularly gives him feedback when the shot is straying.
“He knows me better than anybody else,” Hauser said. “So hearing his thoughts means more than any other word that’s said to me about my shot — just because he knows he seen me from here shoot all the way here [lowers hand] until now.”
Today, despite an ice-cold November, Hauser is shooting 38.9% from three-point range on the season — and he seems well on his way to another 40%+ shooting season. (Famously, he has never shot below 40% from three; not in high school, not in college, and not in the NBA.
Last year, when Hauser was experiencing a shooting slump, his mom, Stephanie, told CelticsBlog that she knew the numbers would come around.
“I just said to him, just keep shooting, because you know, in the end, it will all suddenly end up at around 40% — because your whole life, that’s exactly what’s happened,” Stephanie said.
Hauser continues to be underrated defender
The idea that Hauser is a defensive liability is misguided.
“He’s one of the better defenders that we have,” Joe Mazzulla said plainly last week.
For Hauser, the defensive success oftentimes stems from the fact that he closely studies opposing players’ tendencies.
“The coaches do a good job with sending us personnel edits,” Hauser said. “They send us write-ups of the [opposing players’ shot] percentages, or where they’re driving, or how often they’re driving that way, or what hand they like to drive with.”
Hauser studies those scouting reports, eager to make up for any athleticism deficit he has with meticulous preparation, a process that Mazzulla has lauded.
“I’m not the quickest player laterally, so for me to know that and to try and to anticipate some of these things — it’s big for me to try to keep the guy in front and make it hard for them to try to shoot,” Hauser said. “I try my best. I don’t always do it well, but I try my best.”
Mazzulla pointed to two defensive plays that illustrated Hauser’s defensive preparation: a steal against RJ Barrett last Friday against the Raptors and one against Nikola Jovic against the Heat on Thursday.
The numbers also back up Hauser’s level of discipline; he is in the 98th percentile in defensive fouls, meaning that only 2% of defenders foul less than him, per Cleaning the Glass.
“He knows players’ tendencies; he can take those away in real time,” Mazzulla said. “He’s physical, much more physical than people think, and he’s versatile.”
Hauser has been far from the flashiest story of the season.
But he’s been a key member of a Celtics team that now holds the second-best record in the Eastern Conference — and the second-best net rating in the NBA.
And, Hauser’s contributions have looked like something different every night. Some nights, they’re subtle. Other nights, they’re louder.
On Saturday night, they looked like 10 three-pointers.
