Carsen Edwards Went Off From Deep In Celtics Preseason Finale
BOSTON (CBS) -- The Celtics wrapped up their perfect preseason on Tuesday night with a 118-95 win over the Cavaliers in Cleveland, thanks in large part to an absolutely torrid shooting stretch from rookie Carsen Edwards.
The second-round pick out of Purdue put on a clinic from downtown, hitting eight of his nine threes in a 5:06 span in the third quarter. Making that stretch even more impressive is where Edwards was hitting his shots from, as most of them came well beyond the three-point arc.
As Edwards kept draining three after three, the attempts appeared to get deeper and deeper. At times, it looked more like a video game on easy mode than an actual basketball game.
The performance left head coach Brad Stevens a bit speechless after the game.
"It was, how many? Eight? Eight in five minutes?" asked Stevens. "I've never seen anything like that."
The rookie guard finished with 30 points off 10-of-16 shooting. He hit six straight threes during that stretch in the third, and overall, sank nine of his 15 attempts from downtown. His teammates were worried about getting too close to Edwards and his hot hand during that five minutes.
"I just didn't want to get burnt so I tried to stay away from him," joked fellow rookie guard Tremont Waters, who also impressed with a 24-point, seven assist evening for Boston.
Edwards praised his teammates for getting him open and putting him in a position to go off like he did.
"They kept looking for me, setting good screens and things like that," said Edwards. "It's a blessing to have this opportunity, even if it's preseason, man. You dream to be in positions like this, to be in the NBA with good guys."
The caveat, of course, is that this occurred in not just an NBA preseason game, but Boston's final preseason game. The Celtics didn't even bring their most prominent players to Cleveland, which opened the door for such an offensive outburst.
But Edwards made it abundantly clear this preseason that his quick release has followed him from college to the NBA. Stevens has given him the green light to let the threes fly, and he's taking full advantage. If he can continue to do the same off the Boston bench when the regular season arrives, the Celtics will have a dangerous weapon to send out with their second unit.
