Curry, Warriors countered their trend en route to the NBA Finals

May 28, 2022

1 3 minutes read

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SAN FRANCISCO – Golden State’s ascent to the top of the NBA was fueled by the three.

Yes, Steph Curry, Klay Thompson and Draymond Green were the anchors of this dynasty, but we’re not talking about that triumvirate.

We’re talking about the 3-point shot.

The Warriors, led by the Splash Brothers – and I guess Green made a few, too – practically became synonymous with the three in the early days of the Dubs’ runs to what is now six NBA Finals in eight years.

Golden State revolutionized the game. But in order to reach the NBA Finals this season, they needed to go against the trend they created.

Now, the Dubs are heading back to the Finals on the strength of 2-point shots.

The logic back at the start of this experiment was simple, and it persists: Three is greater than two.

The execution was a bit tougher, of course, but having the two greatest shooters in the history of the NBA helped with that.

It didn’t take long for the paradigm to shift, though. When the Warriors – a “jump-shooting team” – won the title in 2015 and set an NBA regular-season record for most wins next season, the entire league decided to copy their blueprint. Why wouldn’t they?

So the NBA – all 29 other teams – started chucking.

Some teams were better than others, but everyone is trying to use the simple math to their advantage.

In that 73-win Warriors season, they led the NBA in 3-point attempts per game at 31.6. This past regular season, that number would have been good for the 28th in the league. Since Golden State’s first title run in the 2014-15 season, 3-point attempts are up 44 percent.

The Dallas Mavericks stand as a near-perfect embodiment of this new NBA model – a bastardization of the Warriors’ attacks from all those years ago. The Mavs, led by superstar point guard Luka Dončić, chucked 3-pointer after 3-pointer in these Western Conference Finals. They averaged 45 attempts per contest in the five-game series, 10 percent more than any other final-four team and 37 percent more than their opponent, the Warriors.

While Dallas was shooting and so often missing, the Dubs decided not to fight fire with fire. Instead, they attacked the weak points of the Mavericks’ defense – the paint and the mid-range.