In recent years, three-point shots have exponentially skyrocketed and become the go-to style of the NBA. Many teams seem to be playing the shot-chucking style of basketball. This style has correlated with winning recently, especially last year.
The reigning NBA champions, the Boston Celtics, use this formula, and other franchises are trying to replicate it. No team has been on Boston’s level in the last year, so how do they do it? More importantly, is this style good for the future of the NBA?
Jayson Tatum is just too good
The Celtics have found so much more success with this style of play this year because of their star small forward, Tatum. He is a huge weapon to his team and the entire league. If he starts to get going for the Celtics, it is nearly impossible to stop them.
The Celtics use the opposing team’s fear of Tatum to their advantage. They love using Tatum as a ball handler to create situations where the defense must follow him. It allows the five-time All-Star to drive into the defense and pitch it back for a wide-open three. Teams are so worried about Tatum and his ability to score at all levels that they over-help and completely collapse.
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Once Tatum reels the defense in, the minute he gives the ball up, the Celtics play “keep-away” with the defense. Swinging the ball allows Boston to find the wide-open man and create more three-point opportunities.
Boston loves to do this and will keep running with this game plan until someone stops them. Their key asset with this team is that all players will make the extra pass.
The Celtics currently lead the league in three-pointers attempted, three-pointers made and three-point efficiency. The Celtics shooting an average of almost 53 threes a game is unheard of, but the fact that they are shooting at nearly 50% efficiency is even more absurd.
They have seen the consequences of just trying to jack up threes. Even if it doesn’t go their way, it doesn’t seem to phase them.
What was once beautiful is now boring
In 2015, we were introduced to a team that was considered the jump-shooting team. The Golden State Warriors, led by All-Star point guard Stephen Curry, brought a new style of play with heavy three-point shooting to the league. After a unanimous MVP season by Curry, the three-point shot has become the most popular shot in the sport.
Fans admired this and were in awe of the shooting and passing abilities of the Warriors. Before this, no other team had been able to emulate it.
Now, every team in the NBA has become trigger-happy with the three-point shot. The NBA averaged 23 three-pointers attempted in all of the 2010s era. But in the 2020s era, that number has jumped to almost 35 three-pointers a game across the league.
Teams are realizing threes are better than twos, but what makes Boston so different?
Boston has figured out that they are talented enough to outshoot the other team most nights, making it easy to run up the score. This play style is one of the many reasons the Celtics have had so many dominant wins since head coach Joe Mazzulla took control of the team.
Backlash to what the game of basketball has become
This style of play has many fans and former players disgusted at the NBA as a product. It is not a fun game when everyone is playing the same way. In the season premiere of the 2024 Celtics’ season, they tied the league’s record for most threes made in a game with 29.
There is no fun to the NBA if everyone is chucking up threes and hoping they go in. Mathematically, it could be the right strategy to win a game. From an entertainment perspective, it may not be as fun to watch.
It is not necessarily the wrong way to play the game, but fans miss offensive sets, style and physicality of paint basketball. The players aren’t concerned about how much revenue the NBA gets with television, though. Their main priority is winning games and championships. That is just the way the game has evolved. It means more threes have to be taken to avoid getting blown out.
It’s like if you were to watch a football game and every team in the league only passed the ball using an empty backfield every time. Eventually, the football game would become so boring, and there would be no uniqueness to the game.
The same goes for the NBA. There is not much you can do because the game naturally evolved into a three-pointer-style game. The winner ends up feeling like who can make the most threes in a game rather than the best plays. It has filtered into the collegiate game as well, and physical twos may be a thing of basketball history very soon.
@Jon_Mathew23
