I was looking at the 95 Playoff stats (yes, I needs me some basketball in my life right now), and I noticed our insane shooting percentages. Here we are in 2009, and everyone was slobbering over how hot Orlando was shooting prior to the Finals. Has any playoff team topped our perimiter shooting from 95? Drexler - 48%, 30%, took 99 threes Horry - 45%, 40%, took 110 threes Cassell - 44%, 40%, took 60 threes Smith - 44%, 44%, took 104 threes Elie - 50%, 43%, took 65 threes Chilcutt - 48%, 39%, took 36 threes We also had 5 dudes in double figures, with Elie making it close to 6 with 9.1 ppg. Can you say wow.......
The 3 point line was moved forward that year, from 23'9" to 22'. It reverted to 23'9" in '97-'98. I'm not saying that's the whole story, but it obviously made a difference.
The NBA distance is 23.75 feet (23 feet, 9 inches, or 285 inches). However, on the baselines, with a line drawn directly from the center of the rim to the sideline, the NBA distance is 22 feet (264 inches).
http://www.basketball-reference.com/boxscores/199504290UTA.html Kenny Smith 32 points 77% FG 7/8 3 pointers 88% 3pt
If you look at stats from back in the days you will notice an abnormally high number of teams have 5 or more guys averaging 10+ppg in the regular season. I mean even Muresean was putting up 14ppg! Go look at a Lindy's basketball magazine from like 1996, its a real treat/mind blower.
The Rockets this season shot 3 points better than the 94-95 Rockets. As a league, the 3 point shooting this year was better than back during that season.
I just did some quick calculations for their respective playoffs, so someone feel free to check my work : The 1994-1995 Rockets : 183 3PM 483 3PA 21.95 3's attempted per game in 22 games 39.1% (they shot 36.8% during the regular season) The 2008-2009 Magic : 201 3PM 559 3PA 23.29 3's attempted per game in 24 games 35.9% (they shot 38.1% during the regular season) Interesting that in the playoffs, the Rockets took their 3 point shooting to another level and shot out of their minds while the Magic actually were worse in the playoffs than the regular season.
I would hypothesize that the closer line enticed a lot of people who shouldn't have been shooting 3's to shoot more of them, thus bringing the overall league % down. It seems logical to me. What also seems logical is that the better 3 point shooters would have shot at a higher %, thus offsetting the effect I presented in my first statement. So I don't know...
Here's another interesting stat... teams, on average, attempted more 3's this year than in that 94-95 season : 1486 vs. 1285 I'd have to look deeper to be certain, but Steve Kerr and Detlef Shrempf back in that season shot over 50%. After those two the next 3 had about the same percentage as the best 3-point shooters of this season (around 45-46%).
Every damn thing was amazin' (its amazin' - soooo amazin') about those Rockets!! And this guy. <object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/5-1jgNhopNo&hl=en&fs=1&"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/5-1jgNhopNo&hl=en&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object>
The effects of zone defense causing teams to rely more on the outside shot these days? That'd be my guess. Interesting...although I wouldn't put up a red flag for just 2 guys having exceptional seasons. Schrempf went on to shoot just .408 the very next season, and while Kerr stayed above .500, he also managed to do that in two other seasons with the 23'9" line. Could it just have been a coincidence?
The Rockets could have shot a higher percentage at the 3 pt line this year compared to 94-95 but the Rockets had the Dream then and at his best years. Having a player like Hakeem this year would have made the Rockets the 2009 NBA Champs.
And the Rockets were the most prolific 3-point shooting team in the league in those championship years. So it was definitely a big factor in our second championship run. Our role players got hot as the right time, in addition to us having the best player in the league. It takes good fortune like that for a 40-something win team to win a championship.
Look at the 96 Sonics....I don't recall if they kept it up in the Finals, but they shot unreal well through the West.
It took a good trade and it took the team getting healthy during playoff time. Remember dream was hurt for most of that season.
Well said, It was a team that you can rely on anyone to provide an impact during the games. One player would step up and provide support to the superstars of the team. IT WAS TEAM PLAY EVERY SINGLE GAME in the playoffs.
