What we learned from the LA Clippers’ loss to the Bucks
Patrick Beverley finds his shot
Coming into Wednesday’s action, Patrick Beverley was shooting just 12.9 percent on three-point attempts for the season. That’s an incredibly low rate for the eighth-year guard, who has shot roughly 40.0 percent from deep over the last four seasons. Eventually, he was bound to start hitting.
His resurgence couldn’t have come at a better time.
Beverley finished the night with 20 points, connecting on three of his four attempts from beyond the arc and shooting 66.7 percent from the floor. It was his first 20-point performance since November 10, 2018 — which also happened to come against the Milwaukee Bucks.
Perhaps it’s something about Milwaukee’s green uniforms that makes Beverley a better scorer, or maybe he just loves playing against Eric Bledsoe. Or it’s just a coincidence. But who knows?
What matters most is that Beverley appears to be back to his old self on offense, which is a good sign for the Clippers.
LA has struggled from three-point land this season. Coming into their matchup with Milwaukee, the Clippers were ranked 17th in three-point percentage. Part of that had to do with Beverley, who was taking roughly 4.5 per game and making less than one on average.
Now that he seems to have found his shot, he’ll become a versatile weapon the Clippers can use to their advantage when Kawhi Leonard is on the floor. Having another shooter at his disposal will free up some of the offensive load he takes on, and assuming he’s the one finding Beverley for the shots, increase his assist totals in the process.
Of course, we shouldn’t base Beverley’s return to great three-point shooting on just one game. It’ll take some time before it truly sticks. That said, he went through something similar last season.
Through the first 20 games of the 2018-2019 season, Beverley was shooting just 30.7 percent from three-point range. From then on, he would connect on 43.0 percent of his attempts from deep.
If history truly does repeat itself, then we could be in for another sweet-shooting stretch from Beverley.