Celtics Not Shy About Shooting 3s

http://www.providencejournal.com/sports/20161202/celtics-journal-cs-not-shy-about-shooting-3s




Celtics Journal: C's not shy about shooting 3s


Celtics guard Avery Bradley goes up for a shot against Heat guard Josh Richardson during a Nov. 28 game. AP PHOTO
Friday



Posted Dec 2, 2016 at 8:35 PM

 
By Scott Souza@Scott_Souza




BOSTON — Celtics coach Brad Stevens isn’t afraid of the 3-point shot.


Not even 42 of them in one game.

The startling rate at which the team is shooting the long ball seemingly approached a tipping point in Wednesday’s 121-114 loss to the Detroit Pistons when they attempted 42 3-pointers — hitting 15 for a 35.7 percent clip.

A number that would have been unheard of in the NBA just a few years ago is becoming closer to the norm as teams routinely attempt between 20 and 30 3s a game.

But 42 out of 91 shots overall?

“That’s a little high,” Celtics forward Jae Crowder admitted after the loss. “Their defense is not that good to make us shoot 42 3-point attempts.”

Stevens, however, had a different take prior to Friday’s game against the Sacramento Kings. In the coach’s mind, if an opponent is going to pack the paint the way the Pistons did on Wednesday, the Celtics not only can take 42 3s, they almost have an obligation to take them.

“At the end of the day, we want layups, and if we don’t get layups we want the floor to be shrunk,” Stevens said. “If the defense shrinks in, and you are able to touch the paint and kick it out [for a 3 that’s fine].


“In two of our last three games, maybe three of our last four games, two-thirds of our possessions we’ve touched the paint or shrunk the defense with a roll. That’s kind of our objective.”

Entering Wednesday night, 562 of Boston’s 1,553 shot attempts (36.1 percent) were 3-pointers. Crowder attempted 3s on 56 percent of his shots, Kelly Olynyk on 48.2 percent, Marcus Smart on 47.8 percent and Terry Rozier on 45.3 percent.

“It’s hard to know when or not to take one, it’s all in the personnel and the person [shooting],” Rozier said before Friday’s game. “If you’re open — I know that — you’ve got to shoot the ball. You’ve got to let it go.

“We’re not going to make all the 3s we take. We’re going to have good nights, better nights than others, but you still have to take open shots.”

Stevens has long been part of the new NBA thinking that a good-look 3-pointer is a better option than a contested long 2-point shot. With his team shooting 36 percent from beyond the arc this season after being near the bottom of the league, he is willing to double down on the long ball when it comes to this team.

“We’re not a team that gets to the foul line a lot,” the coach said. “We’re not a team that rebounds at a high rate. And we haven’t scored in transition. So to be sitting where we are offensively, I think the big reason is because we space the floor.

“Offense can come and go. Hitting shots can come and go. But as far as quality of shots, and where we are now compared to where we’ve been the past couple of years — and moving forward — I feel really good about it.”


The detriment of the 3-pointer can be long rebounds that lead to transition, so Stevens is also a proponent of going inside the paint with the ball and kicking it back out, rather than attempting a quick one early in the shot clock if it’s not in transition.

“Once you get the ball inside the paint, a lot of eyes go in there and everybody is sucked in,” Rozier said. “I feel like you get a lot of open [outside] shots like that.

"Obviously, [Stevens is] real big on the 3. We draft a lot of bigs who can shoot 3s. We want to stretch the floor. But it’s better playing inside-out. That’s what we go out there trying to do. We do it better at times than others. That’s something we have to have a huge focus on this season.”


Settling on a rotation

With everyone finally healthy, Stevens said before the game he is settling into an eight-man core rotation that could go up to 11 players depending on the matchups.

Jonas Jerebko, Olynyk and Smart are typically the first three players off the bench, with Rozier and Jaylen Brown filling out the rotation.

Tyler Zeller, who was first off the bench Friday night, is the swing man if Boston has to combat size on the opposition, while Gerald Green and James Young have been the odd men out of late. Demetrius Jackson and Jordan Mickey have been the inactives.



bob
MY NOTE:  We "touched the paint"?  Yeah, that's about it though.  Too many 3s for my liking especially since we are not a good shooting team.  I love our defenders, especially our perimeter defenders, but the name of the game is still to score more points than the other guys and to do that you have to put the ball in the hole.  It's harder to do that if you only "touch the paint" and don't have reliable perimeter shooters.


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I do not mind the seemingly over abundance of three point attempts except for the fact that most of them are pretty heavily contested due to a lack of the threat to drive to the hoop. Thomas is the only guy on the team who attacks the hoop well enough to force defenders to have to "back off" at least a step every time he gets the ball on the perimeter.

We are missing Turner's ability to attack the hoop more than I originally thought, but not attacking the hoop at least some of the time accounts for a few other situations that the Cs have fallen off this season.

First of them is that we are getting fewer offensive rebounds this year because three pointers are tougher to get offensive rebounds off. Second, we are never putting the other team's players in foul trouble to the point that an opposing coach has to sub out and perhaps not use some of his better players due to fouls. Third, we (outside of Thomas) are not getting to the free throw line because we are not drawing fouls at a good enough rate.

The bottom line is that the Celtics take too many 3 point shots.

30/85 shots per game are 3 pointers.  I  agree with wydeclyde regarding Turner.  His mid-range game and ability to attack the paint made the Celtics more diverse.

I would like players that struggle to make the 3 ball like Marcus Smart to stop taking them as often.  

The 3 pointer is a lazy shot.  I would like to see more fast breaks.

dboss