Joe Mazzulla’s approach won Celtics both preseason games against the Nuggets

61 threes.

The Celtics shot two more than they ever had in a regular season game on Friday. Rather than just blindly testing the limits of Joe Mazzulla’s volume shooting philosophy, the barrage happened within the flow of the game. Boston hauled in 17 offensive rebounds, kicked them out and added more shooting opportunities by forcing 23 Denver turnovers in the opener.

Two days later, a similar result followed. The Celtics attempted only 47 on Sunday at a 38.3% rate. The Nuggets narrowed the battle on the offensive boards, which ended tied 24-24 through two games, while the turnover battle went 24-43 in Boston’s favor. A close attention to those details reinforced the Celtics’ talent advantage over the field on their way to a championship in June. Nearly four months later, it powered preseason wins.

“We were up seven at halftime,” Mazzulla said after Sunday’s win. “But we were losing the shot margin and we gave them like 18 more free throws than we had.”

The Celtics didn’t dominate the margins Mazzulla has mentioned since ascending to the head coaching seat. The Nuggets dominated Boston in free throw attempts, 53-29, for a 14-point advantage across two games. But the Celtics’ 54-point edge through threes far outsized that. That’s the biggest reason Mazzulla prioritized the three to begin his tenure.

Only 32.8% of the Celtics’ three-point attempts went through on Friday, but an aggressive effort on the offensive glass counteracted the misses, all while managing the defensive glass with Kristaps Porziņģis and Al Horford out. Boston reduced its own turnovers down to eight on Sunday, which allowed them to run the score up when the Nuggets gave the ball away.

It’s less threes, threes, threes, and more possessions, possessions, possessions. Mazzulla, who thrived flipping out-of-bounds calls with challenges last year, even tried to take advantage of a new rule that can reverse out-of-bounds calls into fouls on the other team in the first game. That attempt proved unsuccessful.

The Celtics built their approach, in part, to beat an efficient shooting team like Denver that they can’t reliably defeat with the inside game or even talent alone. Two losses to the Nuggets last year saw Boston only average 90 shots and 41 threes while Denver shot over 50% from the field in both. They pressure the rim, force you to double and cross-match you in transition, leading to some…