Chris Forsberg, ESPN Staff Writer 9y

Gamebook: All about that Bass

Bass 3-pointer

Brandon Bass has carved out a nine-year NBA career in large part because of a reliable mid-range jumper. But the league has discovered a great value in moving players such as Bass back a couple of feet to beyond the 3-point arc, so he has been encouraged this offseason to explore the occasional trifecta.

Behind the scenes, we've seen Bass working on his 3-point shooting, but he's hesitated to pull the trigger during game action this preseason. Entering Sunday's tilt in Brooklyn, Bass had attempted just one 3-pointer -- and missed it -- last week against the New York Knicks.

You can understand his hesitation. Before last season, Bass had never made a 3-pointer in his NBA career. He had attempted only 15 of them over his first eight seasons in the league. But a couple fell last season and it must have made coach Brad Stevens wonder if Bass could learn to add the random 3 to his repertoire.

Maybe that's why most of the Celtics bench rose in unison Sunday when Bass caught the ball wide open in the corner during the final seconds of the third quarter. A driving Phil Pressey had drawn Bass' man away, and the clock ensured that Bass had to put up the shot.

Bass actually crashed to the floor after the attempt, but made the shot as jubilant teammates pried him off the ground. The triple capped a monster third quarter that saw Boston outscore Brooklyn by 19 points while helping it post a 95-90 triumph at the Barclays Center.

"We watch too much European basketball, man," Bass joked, according to MassLive.com. "No, but I just think the game is growing, and I think that's the direction everybody's going."

The 29-year-old Bass has to adapt on a team where young bigs Jared Sullinger and Kelly Olynyk are making a case for hefty roles with their abilities to stretch the floor. Bass is a versatile defender who has thrived around 19 feet in the pick-and-pop, but adding at least the threat of a 3-point shot makes him that much more valuable when he's on the floor.

Bass finished with 14 points on 4-of-6 shooting with six rebounds and four assists -- another part of his game that seems to be growing in an offense that is stressing greater ball movement -- over 18 minutes. He's shooting 51.2 percent and gives the Celtics some additional versatility to mix-and-match at the forward position.

PLENTY OF TIME FOR SULLINGER

Some suggested that a 44-minute game might drive down stat lines as teams attempted to spread out minutes to all their players. Well, a shorter game didn't slow Sullinger in the least.

Sullinger registered team highs with 21 points and 19 rebounds over 28:35. He is now averaging a double-double this preseason at 14.9 points and 10 rebounds per game.

"He was good," Stevens said. "And he played the 4 and the 5. He hasn't played much 5. Our 4s and 5s do the exact same thing in our offense, so they are interchangeable. So it doesn't matter, you can learn both just by knowing one. I was happy with the way [Sullinger] played when he was matched up with 4s and when he was matched up with 5s."

The Celtics have stressed to Sullinger to take advantage of his matchups. They want him to post up and use his size against smaller power forwards, then draw pure centers to the perimeter to defend his improving 3-point shot. Sullinger was 3-of-5 shooting beyond the arc on Sunday and is now shooting 53.8 percent (14 of 26) from distance through seven exhibition games.

"Just playing hard," Sullinger said of his near 20/20 performance. "All this hard work I'm putting in this offseason is finally paying off."

Added Sullinger: "You just got to keep playing, honestly, keep playing hard. Keep doing work. Keep doing everything that you were doing to get this way."

(h/t: @MrTrpleDouble10 for Bass 3-pointer GIF from CSNNE broadcast)

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