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LA Clippers: Making history while shooting the lights out

Evan Desai
Evan Desai

Clipperholics

May 16, 2021; Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, USA; LA Clippers guard Luke Kennard (5) shoots as Oklahoma City Thunder forward Josh Hall (15) defends during the third quarter at Chesapeake Energy Arena. Mandatory Credit: Alonzo Adams-USA TODAY Sports

The LA Clippers are hands-down the best shooting team in the NBA.

One can even tell how dangerous the LA Clippers are as shooters just through the eye-test.

It’s more than just that, however. The numbers back it up as well.

The Clippers led the league in three-point percentage this year while connecting on 41.1% of their three-point attempts, and led the league in free throw percentage (83.9%). The Clips ranked in the top five in field goal percentage (48.2%), and ranked second in true shooting percentage at 59.9%.

Sure, they didn’t rank first in every single one of those categories, but no other team has had a better statistical resume than the Clippers do this season. This was even with many good shooters for the Clippers having to miss time due to injuries this year.

The best part about this Clippers team isn’t just that they shot better than anyone else in the league, but that they even made history.

Justin Kubatko of Statitudes, LLC and Basketball Reference uncovered a deeper accomplishment from the Clippers this year.

He found that the Clippers are the only team in league history to shoot 50% or higher from 2PT range (52.9%), 40% or higher from 3PT range (41.1%), and 80% or higher from the free throw line (83.9%) all at the same time.

Of players who have taken at least 19 threes this year for the Clippers, the Clips have nine shooting over 40%. They have ten players who have attempted at least 31 free throws for the Clips that are shooting at least 80% from the free throw line.

Marcus Morris Sr. is third in the NBA in three-point percentage (47.3%), and Luke Kennard comes in at ninth at 44.6%. It goes to show that it’s not just the stars on the team that are deadly when shooting the basketball.

The Clippers are an elite shooting team, and it’s been a team effort.

Evan Desai

Evan Desai

Evan is the editor for Reign of Troy, FanSided's USC Trojans hub. He has a BA in sports journalism and an MMC in mass communications from Arizona State University. He has covered college sports since 2019 for the Pac-12 Network and several large university publications. He also has experience covering MLB and NBA teams and has made two stops at NBC Sports.