The reputation of the Boston Celtics apparently precedes them.

The Celtics have gone all-in on 3-point shooting under head coach Joe Mazzulla, posting an NBA-leading 42.5 3-pointers per game last season en route to the NBA Championship. This season they have pushed themselves even further, with a whopping 50.2 3-point attempts per game, which is 6.3 more attempts than the next closest team and would tie the NBA record for most 3-pointers. Break points attempts per game in a season (45.4 by the Houston Rockets in 2018-19) if it holds up.

When Denver Nuggets head coach Michael Malone was asked Monday how he plans to prepare for Tuesday night’s showdown with the Celtics (10 p.m. ET on NBC Sports Boston), his message was essentially: The shooters will shoot.

“No matter what you do, they’re going to be 50 3s ahead. I really believe that,” Malone told reporters, via the Denver Post. “Nineteen of the 50 3s they make come from the diving board. They shoot pull-up threes in transition. They shoot pull-up 3s in pick-and-rolls. That’s their thing offensively. “We’re just going to make a lot of threes.”

For Malone, the best chance to beat the Celtics isn’t by limiting their 3-point attempts. It’s about making these attempts as difficult as possible and hoping Boston misses more than it makes.

“They shoot the same number of three-pointers in wins and losses. But their percentage varies greatly,” Malone said. “The point is that they will reach 50 points. That’s just how they’re programmed. But it is the quality of three that they achieve.”

“You can’t be on the floor inside the 3-point line in transition. On pick-and-rolls, you can’t be on the floor and give (Jayson) Tatum, (Jaylen) Brown, (Payton) Pritchard, (Jrue) Holiday, and (Derrick) White easy walk-in 3s.”

According to Malone, the Celtics’ 3-point percentage dropped from 38.7 percent in wins to 31.4 percent in losses. Boston is 2-5 when shooting 30 percent or worse from distance this season – including a brutal 19.6 percent from 3-pointers in Sunday’s loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder – and 24-5 in all other games.

In Denver’s view, those numbers create a pretty simple game plan for Boston.

“You won’t be able to stop them from shooting at you,” Nuggets guard Russell Westbrook added, via the Post. “But you just have to be able to give them difficult shots.” That’s it. Make difficult shots and let the ball bounce. And then do what we do.”

The Celtics are hard to beat when they hit 3-point shots and play strong defense. But it’s interesting to hear how an elite team like the Nuggets views the plan to beat Boston: shoot their 3-pointers and hope for the best.

Celtics-Nuggets coverage on NBC Sports Boston begins at 9 p.m. ET Celtics Pregame Live.