Have the NBA’s best players broken the game basketball?
The new season is in full swing and a glaring new trend has emerged over the first couple of weeks — teams are shooting more three-pointers than ever before.
Reigning champions the Boston Celtics are leading the way, taking more than half of their total shots (55.1 per cent) from behind the three-point line.
Average of 9 LIVE Regular Season games per week plus the best of the NBA Playoffs, including every game of the NBA Conference Finals & NBA Finals LIVE on ESPN, available via Kayo New to Kayo? Get your first month for just $1. Limited time offer.
The Celtics equalled the NBA record for the most threes made in a game with 29 in their season opener, and they could have easily set a new mark if not for some wayward shooting late in that game.
Boston has perfected a game plan where all five players on the court can knock down three-pointers, spacing the court and making the opposition’s defence stick to each of their players.
One thing is clear in today’s NBA — players are virtually useless if they can’t shoot three-pointers at a decent clip.
So isn’t it a good thing? The rise in three-point attempts makes for higher 스포츠토토사이트 scoring games and means big 20-30 point leads can be reeled in more easily.
Not necessarily. Many basketball fans believe the three-point creates a boring style of basketball, with long ricocheting rebounds making for a disjointed game.
Leading pundit Bill Simmons said on his podcast he doesn’t subscribe to the theory that “there is a sameness to all these styles now that it’s boring in the regular season”.
Simmons believes there are enough “aberration players” such as Ja Morant, Anthony Davis, Paolo Banchero and Alperen Sengun who don’t rely on three-pointers.
“It doesn’t feel like we’re just chucking up threes we’ll see who wins,” he said.
Other fans want to see more old school post-up play from the 90s when hulking centres dominated the NBA.
So-called NBA ‘alien’ Victor Wembanyama has been urged to take fewer three-point attempts and instead used his 222cm frame to bully his way to dunks and easy points near the hoop.
Why NBA trend is bad news for Aussie stars
The rise in three-point attempts spells trouble for Australia’s contingent of players in the NBA.
Veterans Patty Mills and Joe Ingles are still on NBA rosters and have made plenty of money from their three-point prowess, but the next generation of Aussie NBA stars aren’t as strong from downtown.
Josh Giddey became unplayable for the OKC Thunder in last season’s playoffs because he couldn’t hit wide open shots, and was a key reason why he was traded to the Chicago Bulls in exchange for the defensive minded Alex Caruso, who is a better three-point shooter.
Giddey made 4/4 three-pointers in Chicago’s win over Orlando last week, but it’s unlikely he’ll keep his three-point accuracy at the healthy 44 per cent he’s had to start the season.