Through the first month of this season, eight players scored better than 30 points per game, and seven of them owned a true shooting percentage higher than 60%. The one who did not, Giannis Antetokounmpo, has atrue shooting percentage of 60%. A ninth player, Ja Morant, could join their club in short order.
Seven of the 12 teams on that list featured either Durant, Antetokounmpo, Luka Doncic, Jayson Tatum or Donovan Mitchell — five of the eight aforementioned players averaging 30-plus points a game this season:Jayson Tatum, Golden State Warriors: 31.5 PPG , Milwaukee Bucks: 31.3 PPG Should Curry maintain these numbers, his season would rank as, two ticks better than his unanimous MVP campaign.
It isn't just that they are taking the right shots. The accuracy with which they are converting them creates space to make difficult shots easier. Teams are taxing themselves to defend the rim and the perimeter, so the mid-range opens enough to make those attempts manageable. Kobe Bryant took a league-leading 12.2 mid-range shots per game during his 2005-06 campaign, when he averaged a career-high 35.4 points, and made just 42.4% of them. That is an awful lot of work to get 10 points a game.
This season, 18 players are on pace to join that club, albeit early in the season. The Celtics boast three of them: Grant Williams, Al Horford and Sam Hauser, who are shooting a combined 46% on a dozen 3-point attempts per game. The Celtics have weaponized the roster around Tatum. Defend their shooters, and Tatum attacks the rim. Close in on Tatum, and he picks his poison around the arc. Try to defend both, and Jaylen Brown steps into the mid-range, where he's shooting 60.5% this season.
There is evidence of diminishing returns on open and wide-open 3-pointers as the Rockets increased their attempts from 26.6 in 2013-14 to 45.4 in 2018-19. Defenses got hip to Houston's scheme, and Harden had to work even harder as the heliocentric core of the offense. There is only so far you can push the limit, and we should not be surprised the league average has settled at the median of Houston's escalating attempts.
United States Latest News, United States Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
Source: SInow - 🏆 273. / 63 Read more »
Source: WOKVNews - 🏆 247. / 63 Read more »
NBA Basketball Scoreboard - NBA Scores - RealGMWednesday's NBA Scores: OKC 121, WAS 120 IND 125, CHA 113 MIN 126, ORL 108 MIA 104, TOR 112 BOS 126, ATL 101 CLE 98, MIL 113 CHI 110, NOP 124 HOU 101, DAL 92 NYK 106, DEN 103 GSW 119, PHX 130
Source: RealGM - 🏆 580. / 51 Read more »
NBA Basketball Scoreboard - NBA Scores - RealGMTuesday's NBA Scores: MEM 102, NOP 113 LAC 101, DAL 103 SAS 110, POR 117 BKN 121, SAC 153 NYK 118, UTA 111
Source: RealGM - 🏆 580. / 51 Read more »
Source: mercnews - 🏆 88. / 68 Read more »
Source: FoxBusiness - 🏆 458. / 53 Read more »