The Hangover: Three-Pointers are the Way To Go in the NBA

This is the Hangover. This is where I get drunk on the NBA as I recap last night’s action as well as a few things going on around the league. Here’s your word vomit.

12/01/2016

THE GAMES

DAL 87 (3-15) @ CHA 97 (11-8)
MIL 111 (9-8) @ BRK 93 (5-13)
ORL 94 (7-12) @ MEM 95 (12-8)
LAC 113 (15-5) @ CLE 94 (13-4)
MIA 111 (7-12) @ UTA 110 (11-9)
HOU 132 (12-7) @ GS 127 (16-3) [2OT]

(PHOTO CREDIT: Ray Chavez/Bay Area News Group.)

LONG DISTANCE SHOOTING

88 three-point shot attempts. That was seriously how many the Rockets and the Warriors put up in their hotly contested double overtime game last night. Recently, the Rockets set a record with 50 three-point shot attempts. That’s quite a bit of heaving.

But that’s where the game has been going the last five years or so. Mostly gone are the plodding big men who would pound and power their way to the basket. Not a lot of back-to-the-basket moves. We see a lot more guys that are Mark Price than Hakeem Olajuwon. A lot of it has to do with the change of rules that favored faster play. There are still a few teams that would rather slow it down and pound it inside (Memphis is still the prime example of that). But more than likely, there will be a lot of three-point shots in our NBA games.

The Rockets actually put up 37.0 threes per game. The Nets are second at 34.9 attempts and the Cavs are third with 34.8 (the Dubs are fourth with 32.2). Even the aforementioned slow Grizzlies are 18th in attempts with 25.0 because Marc Gasol goes outside a lot these days, too. The least attempts? 19.8 by the Pistons.

That’s still a lot of threes even if it’s last. The overall league average? 26.4 three-pointers per game.

Let’s observe how many threes were put up per game in the last few seasons.

2016-17 season: 26.4
2015-16 season: 24.1
2014-15 season: 22.4
2013-14 season: 21.5
2012-13 season: 20.0
2011-12 season: 18.4
2010-11 season: 18.0
2009-10 season: 18.1

And let’s go back to, say, the tail end of the Bulls‘ second three-peat and check how much the game was so different then.

1997-98 season: 12.7
1996-97 season: 16.8
1995-96 season: 16.0
1994-95 season: 15.3
1993-94 season: 9.9
1992-93 season: 9.0
1991-92 season: 7.6
1990-91 season: 7.1

The great teams in the 80s? Let’s go with the 1986 Celtics first. That team won 67 games and they only put up 4.8 three-pointers per game. That was fourth in the league. The 1985 Lakers that won 62? They put up 3.6 per game, which was 8th.

The game really, REALLY has changed.

THE REST OF THE LEAGUE

By the way, that Rockets win snapped the Warriors’ 12-game win streak.

Draymond Green, STOP KICKING PEOPLE.

So the Heat beat the Jazz by one. But once again, we had clock problems. After the shot clock expired, it showed that the Jazz only had 3.9 seconds left in the game. But once you look at the replay, they should have 5.2 ticks left after the entire shot clock. Gordon Hayward missed the jumper and Rudy Gobert‘s putback was a little too late. It’s still the Jazz’s prerogative to put up a shot that late but man, it sucks that they were denied that extra second in an NBA game.

We’ve had so many clock problems this season. Fix them, NBA.

There is nothing wrong with the Clippers, right? After losing three straight, they went into Cleveland and plastered them. Again, teams go through swoons now and then but Clipper fans hope they get this team in April through June.

The way Orlando played the last few seconds of the game is NOT how you should finish a game. They didn’t even get a shot off. That’s the worst-case scenario right there.

Once Giannis Antetokounmpo develops that jumpshot, man, oh, man, the league will be in trouble. I didn’t foresee this coming. I don’t think the rest of the league did, either. After all, he was picked in the middle of the first round.

And by the way, congrats to LeBron James for winning Sports Illustrated’s Sportsperson of the Year for 2016. He also won it in 2012 when he won his first championship for the Miami Heat. This year? He gave Cleveland its first sports title since 1964. But I wouldn’t have blamed SI if they gave it to the Cubs. After all, it was their first World Series since 1908.

LINE CROSSER

(PHOTO CREDIT: AP.)

James Harden got his fourth triple-double.

29 points, 15 rebounds, 13 assists.

This must be the year of the triple-double. I’ll look those stats up soon.

WATCH THIS PLAY

(VIDEO CREDIT: NBA.)

LeBron James throws down the breakaway windmill. The guy is 32 this year. This is so incredible to me.


Follow Rey-Rey on Twitter at @TheNoLookPass for all tweets about the NBA and terrible pop music. Also, check out his podcast, Rey-Rey Is Fundamental.

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