There’s been some chatter on the internet lately about the NBA being “unwatchable.” “Nobody wants to watch guys just jacking up 3s,” they say. Well, the NBA has been unwatchable for a long time but now, suddenly, the culprit is the 3-pointer. “Guys just jacking up 3s.” Well, sure, if they’re just jacking up 3s. But, if they’re getting and shooting open 3s by moving the ball around, and if they’re making, say, 40% of their 3s, well, then, that’s not just jacking up 3s. That’s using the 3-ball just exactly the way it was intended to be used way back when the 3-pointer was first introduced.
In fact, complaining about the 3 is more than a little bit ironic. I don’t know about you, but I remember when the 3 was introduced. It was the antidote to the boring old low post offense that predominated in basketball from the mid-’40s to the mid-’80s. It was going to save us from the scourge of the boring old low post. How’s that workin’ out for ya?
All of this is of course apropos the Minnesota Timberwolves. A year ago at this time the Wolves were 20-5. Now they’re 14-11. And, even without the since traded-away former NBA 3-point shooting champion Karl Anthony Towns, the Wolves this year have increased their 3-pointers from 31 per game last year to 40 this year. Last year they made an average of 12-of-31 (39%). This year it’s 15-of-40 (37%). Of course the number of 2s has therefore come down from 28-of-51 (55%) a year ago to 24-of-45 (54%) this year. On the other hand, their total scoring from the field has gone up from 92 ppg to 93. The FT have dropped from 18-of-23 (78%) to 17-of-21 (79%) for a grand total of 110 ppg both last year and this. So not much has really changed, but maybe with the extra 9 3-pointers and the fact that they’re now shooting almost as many 3s (40 per game) as 2s (45), maybe that creates the impression that they’re “just jacking up 3s.”
But if you want to see guys jacking up 3s, how about the San Antonio Spurs last night? The Spurs, as you know, have gone from pretty bad to pretty good with the addition of Victor Wembanyama. They’re 13-13 now and they beat the Wolves 113-103 at San Antone on Nov. 2. That night they made 13-of-42 3s (31%) but 30-of-41 2s. The Wolves made just 11-of-37 3s (30%).
Last night the Spurs made 11-of-45 3s (24%), and 26-of-46 2s. The Wolves made 12-of-35 3s and a mediocre 28-of-65 2s. The Wolves were ready to be taken if the Spurs had shot better from 3 or if they had focused on doing what they do best, which is make 2s. But, instead, they jacked up 45 3s and they lost by 14.
The Wolves led early 28-19 at the quarter and 52-37 at the half. San Antone got within 66-63 at 3:22 of the 3rd and 74-70 at 0:46. The Wolves then went on a 23-7 run to ice it at 97-77 with 3 minutes to play. During that T-Wolves run, San Antone shot 0-for-7 from 3 and turned it over 4 times. That’s ugly. The Wolves made 2-of-5 3s and also made 8 2s and just one FT. DiVincenzo was the star of the run with 2 buckets and 2 assists, while Conley had a 3 and 2 assists, Gobert 3 buckets from a grand total of about 7 feet out, and Ant Edwards finally contributed the last 2 nails in the Spurs coffin with a 3 and a 2 for that 97-77 score.
Overall in those 2 games against the Spurs, the Wolves shot 35-of-77 3s (32%) and 58-of-106 2s (55%). For the season, as we said, they’re shooting 37% and 54%. 37% on 3s is #11 in the NBA, while 15 makes is #8. So they’re a good 3-point shooting team, but not a great one. On 2s, they’re just #27 on makes and #16 on percentage. Not good. So why not shoot the 3? Well, a few fans whining about the 3 being “unwatchable” is unlikely to move the Timberwolves brain trust very much.
The fact is that the Timberwolves shot mix has changed quite a bit from last year and their won-lost record has done the same, and not in a good way. But the bigger picture is that this Timberwolves team is pretty similar to a year ago. Last year they outscored their opponents 110-106 and they were lauded as the best or maybe 2nd-best defensive team in the NBA. This year the average is 110-107 and they’re still the #4 defensive team. One would have to conclude, however, that the Wolves efforts have been more lumpy this year. Up and down, and not consistently good every night.
Last year the Wolves were 30-11 at home (.732). This year they’re 8-4 (.667), with losses to Miami, Houston, Dallas and Sacramento, mostly winnable games. So that’s not good, but if they win their next 3 home games, they’ll be right back where they were, but of course that’s not a gimme what with the Knicks, Warriors and Spurs coming to town. But it’s on the road that the Wolves have taken a giant step back. Last year they were 26-15 (.634). Now they’re 6-7 (.462). They’ll have to win 6 straight road games to get back to where they were last year, and that ain’t gonna happen as they would have to win games in Atlanta, Dallas, Houston, Oklahoma City, Detroit and New Orleans.
For the record, they’re 5-3 against winning teams at home, 2-3 against winning teams on the road, 3-1 against non-winning teams at home, and 4-4 against non-winning teams on the road. If you could reverse 3 losses at Portland and Toronto, the Wolves would be 17-8 and there’d be almost no complaining at all, well, except about jacking up 3s.
A Short History of the 3
The 3 was introduced in the NBA in 1980. It was only in 1993 that NBA teams averaged as many as 10 3-point attempts per game. and in the 1990s, NBA scoring dropped below 100 points per team per game for the 1st time since 1957. If you think jacking up 3s is boring, you should have seen the NBA in the ’90s. That was boring. It was only in 2013 that NBA teams took an average of 20 3s per game. Scoring only increased back over 100 points per team per game in 2009. In 2019 it exceeded 110 points. In 2024 it reached 115 points per game for the first time in some 50 years.
Meanwhile, the 3 was introduced in Minnesota high school ball in 1988. In the last 5 years without the 3, the average state high school basketball tournament score was 55-47. That, too, was boring. In the first 5 years with the 3, scoring increased but only to 62-52. It was still boring and the average game featured just 11 3-point attempts by both teams.
But by 2008, scoring in the state tournament had increased to an average of 70-54, the first time the winners averaged 70 points since 1970. In 2013, it was 69-54 with the average team making 5-of-16 3s (33%). In the 4 tournaments from 2019 to 2023 (there was no tournament in 2020) it was 68-54 and teams made 35% of their 3s. The real revolution among the high schools is that with the defenses stretching to defend the 3, teams are now making more than 50% of their 2s. Either way, scoring is up. And, again, if you think the 3-pointer is boring, you should be sentenced to a week of NBA and state tournament videos from the ’90s. Only then would you have the authority to whine about the 3 if you still thought that you should.