Josh Richardson knew this was going to be a good one.
“I felt it early. I made a pull-up mid-range, that’s usually how I get going, and I got a couple layups,” he said of catching a groove. “The third quarter, I made a three off a Jaylen Brown kick-out, that was probably when I was like ‘Alright, I’m feeling good now.’ I kind of yelled at myself after that shot because I was like ‘Just do what you’re supposed to do on your shot and it’s going to go in.’
A lot of shots went in for Richardson -- 64% of them to be exact. For a guy who came in with a reputation of hard-nosed defender/okay scorer/spotty jump-shooter, a lot of shots have been falling for him, especially from deep.
He’s hit 16 of 32 3-pointers in December, a cool 50% for the month. The 16 makes in seven games doubles his total from 15 combined October and November games.
“Obviously shot the ball exceptionally well. He's been playing pretty consistent in general,” Ime Udoka said after beating the Knicks Saturday night. “The shooting and aggressiveness offensively was great, needed, and great to see. But he really got into the zone shooting the ball, guys were finding him, he was not hesitating and that's what we want. Quick decisions. Either catch and shoot it or make a move.”
When Richardson joined the Celtics, there was some question about which version of him Boston would get. Would he be the guy from Miami who hit 37% from 3 and built a reputation as a hard-nosed two-way player, or would he be the guy from Dallas who missed time and found himself out of the rotation?
It didn’t look great at first, but Richardson has slowly built himself up to be a bit of a pleasant surprise. First impressions are hard to shake, but his shooting numbers are currently at career-highs everywhere except for the free-throw line (where he’s still 81.4%).
"It's been good. Me and Ime worked together before already. So I kinda know his stuff, his values, his calls,” Richardson said. They were together for a season in Philadelphia two seasons ago. “And I gotta give credit to my teammates for letting me get out there and go. I can make 3s, I can do stuff like that, but I can also get going by having the ball in my hands and being able to facilitate, dribble, move and feel the game out. But I'm getting comfortable and it's been good for me."
Richardson got comfortable at just the right time for the Celtics. He hit a 3-pointer with 2:41 to go in the third quarter and, over next 15 minutes or so, he racked up 18 points on perfect shooting from the field and 4-5 from the line. Throughout most of that stretch, he was also asked to pick up Kemba Walker full court.
“He did it for us years ago in Philadelphia,” Udoka said. “He really guards those small guards well, stays in their rearview, contests them, bothers them, uses his length there. So he was obviously huge there. We had multiple guys on Kemba throughout the game and he was one of our primary guys because of his length and what he kind of does naturally there.”
Walker had 17 points in that third quarter, hitting four 3-pointers in a revenge rampage that showed everyone in the building what he was capable of. But his 29th point, the last he’d score, came about a minute before Richardson took over.
Walker went scoreless over his last 11 minutes.
“I’ve been competing against him for a while,” Richardson said. “He’s a tough cover, and I’m just trying to get rearview contests on him, because I have the length and try to make his catches tough. I was trying to deny him in the backcourt, make him run, make him use his legs, and hope for the best.”
The best was a lock-down performance and breakout shooting night after his coach challenged the team to wake up from a third-quarter malaise that turned a potential laugher into a tight finish. Richardson has gone from arguments to replace him on the floor with Aaron Nesmith to a crucial performance to save the Celtics from a loss that, despite the roster circumstances, would have been quite ugly.
“Josh is an unbelievable player and he’s capable of doing that,” Payton Pritchard said. His huge 3-pointer off a Richardson assist gave Boston a late six-point lead. “We’ve seen him do that in Miami, Philly and here just giving him the opportunity to go out there and shoot the ball some, take some shots and get going like that. So we’re going to need that from him moving forward.”