How long can this three point shooting last?
Ty Lue’s system has the Clippers shooting more threes than they ever have. We wrote earlier about the Clippers being on pace to shoot the most threes in franchise history, and that’s still true today.
Relative to the NBA, 34.6 attempts from three per game isn’t so impressive; the Clips sit at 16th in three point attempts. But they’re second in the league in three point percentage, sitting at an elite 41.7% as a team.
The Clippers have been riding their hot shooting early in the season, and it’s a huge reason they sit at 5-2 right now. How long can that last?
It’s worth noting that the Clippers shoot the 9th most threes that NBA Stats call “tightly guarded,” which is when a defender is within 2-4 feet of the shooter. Despite this, they shoot the fourth highest percentage on tightly defended shots.
That worries me. We have guys that can hit those guarded threes, but the team shoots 40.6% on those shots, and that seems unsustainable. I would expect that percentage to drop a bit as the season goes on.
However, the team generates the 10th most open threes and the 7th fewest wide open threes. We can hope that, as the Clips get more comfortable in Coach Lue’s scheme, we’ll see more open and wide open threes. But if that doesn’t happen, it’s tough to see the Clips keeping their spot as one of the best three point shooting teams in the league.
All that said, Ty has earned my confidence in his ability to make adjustments so far this season. If the Clips stop hitting threes at such a high rate, I believe in Lue figuring out other ways to keep winning.