Zach Lowe on the Increasing Reliance on 3 Pointers

Who knew NBA Jam was so ahead its time.

 

The regular season leaders in 3s made this years happen to be the same teams still alive in the playoffs.

 

Nice find

I'm going to steal it

 

LOL! Top three point hoisters are the remaining teams in the playoffs... This is egg on the face of all those ignorant fans trying to claim that an offense that hoists a lot of long balls are gimmicks.

 

Maybe this new era will be called NBA Jam. Rockets did already release a sweet video with NBA Jam as the theme.

 

That 1/3 is boring

 

Live by the 3, or die. Poor Barkley is lost and confused.

 

Shooters have gotten so good, and stat guys have realized it's value, this is the way of the future. All offenses will become geared to getting the best 3's possible and points in the paint.

I personally can't say that I love it. As a Rockets fan it helps us, but I would like to see the NBA push the line back some and eliminate the corner 3. Make the arc go from sideline to sideline. Decrease the percentage made so that the 3's aren't so overvalued. It would allow all facets of offense to thrive, and open up movement without the ball so guys don't just camp.

 

I guess now it remains to be seen if you can get away with volume at the arc (Rockets) instead of high accuracy/efficiency (GSW, LAC, ATL)

 

2 years ago there were discussions that the NBA was/is considering lengthening and widening the court. Due to seat costs NBA admitted widening the court would probably never happen.

 

How did you post that table from basketball reference? I was going to do one for all time 3 pointers and 3pt attempts, but I'm not sure how to post an image.

All 5 playoff teams remaining are in the top 17 all time for 3p at/game, and the top 11 for 3p made/game.

 

There is no doubt that 3pt shooting teams are more efficient. Otherwise, why would more teams mimic the tactic?

What remains to be seen is whether the league wants this trend to continue. They changed the illegal defense rule to stop ISO ball, and indirectly also make the low post game more difficult. Thereby, shifting the offensive emphasis from the big men to the wings, and encouraging more team motion than attacking with one dominant player.

 

Result of the attempts to limit and minimize the effectiveness of big men.
Rewarding flops.

Rocket River

 

This.

It neutered the game.

 

Jeff Van Gundy, a guy who never ran a zone defense in his life and steadfastly refused to run one, a guy who refused to exploit Yao's high-post face-up game but instead demanded that Yao be in the low blocks 100% of the time, the guy that wouldn't play VSpan over Rafer Alston because he couldn't see past VSpan's turnovers as a rookie, the guy that preferred Juwan Howard's line-drive 17-footers that Juwan hit at about a 42% clip over a 3-point shot, that Jeff Van Gundy talking about how the 3-point shot is "hurting the diversity of the game".

Good ole JVG.

 

haha. still get over with jvg, eh?

i like him as a person, a commentator, an interviewee on radio/tv. he's a good coach, too. but i see him one notch below the top dogs. he's too stubborn and slow (or even refuse) to adapt to changes in the nba. sometimes i think w/ a better coach, we couldve done a lot more when yao and tmac were here.

 

Rockets shoot the most and make the least out of the top five.

Maury get some shooters!

 

That explains the Stockton shot

 

100% agree with everything you wrote.

 

A simple, but very acute observation.

That really is the big difference between us and a Goldenstate.

We need to revamp the roster a bit and get not just good shooters, but elite ones.