Daily NBA Fix: A Three-Point Miracle and Grumpy Old Men
By Ben Gibson
Wednesday night in the NBA we saw the power that the 3-point shot has when Matt Barnes knocked down a game-winner for the Memphis Grizzlies from half-court.
With 10 seconds to go it looked like the Detroit Pistons just needed to make a shot before the shot clock ran out and hope that the Memphis Grizzlies didn’t hit a 3-pointer if they missed.
Marcus Morris‘ shot clanged out and it looked like an Ersan Ilyasova or Andre Drummond tip-in would work just as well, but neither shot went in and Matt Barnes found the ball in his hands with five seconds left to play.
After Memphis had elected to play defense instead of foul, it was somewhat surprising that Grizzlies coach Dave Joerger didn’t call a timeout to set up anything. Barnes had smartly been dribbling at full speed once he got the ball, but once he got to half court there was still three seconds left on the clock. And then he shot the ball.
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Barnes probably came a second or two before anyone expected, but it was pure as it was making its way through the net with 1.2 seconds still left to play. The Grizzlies held on for 93-92 win, and once again we were shown how having the 3-point shot in basketball brings a dramatic weapon of choice in close games in increase the tension.
With one shot, the winners and the losers of a close game flip sides as quickly and suddenly as the shot is taken.
While Barnes and the Grizzlies illustrated the singular power of the shot, the game-wide effect the shot has is on display with the Golden State Warriors as they continue to win game after game on their way to a 23-0 start. They continue to break records both as a team and as individuals and the Warriors use it early and often to devastate teams.
They went on a 22-0 run against the Pacers that saw three of them go down to shellshock Indiana. The Pacers tried fighting back with a 3-point barrage of their own, but no one is using it better than Golden State.
They don’t use that 3-point shot the same way in Memphis, but Barnes only needed one to go in and though the moment illustrated the power of the 3-pointer not everyone in the NBA is a fan of the 3-pointer …
Gregg Popovich Complaints About Those Damn Kids and Their 3-Point Shot
Before the San Antonio Spurs lost to the Toronto Raptors last night, Gregg Popovich decided it was time to once again go on the offensive against the 3-point shot.
As he did his pregame interviews with the media Popovich decried that the shot was strange and unnatural.
"“I still hate it,” Popovich told reporters before the Spurs’ 97-94 loss to the Toronto Raptors. “I’ll never embrace it. I don’t think it’s basketball. I think it’s kind of like a circus sort of thing. Why don’t we have a 5-point shot? A 7-point shot? You know, where does it stop, that sort of thing.“But that’s just me, that’s just old-school. To a certain degree, you better embrace it or you’re going to lose. And every time we’ve won a championship, the 3-point shot was a big part of it. Because it is so powerful and you’ve gotta be able to do it. And nobody does it better than Golden State, and you know where they’re at. So it’s important. You can’t ignore it.”"
I know that Popovich isn’t advocating to take away the 3-point line, but it really is an old man rant to start say the 3-point rule is “a circus sort of thing,” and it’s a little hard to take him seriously as he’s obviously made it part of the Spurs offense as well.
So what exactly is Popovich’s point of bringing it up? I don’t know, but I will give him that he’s certainly earned the right to complain, even when I’m not sure exactly what he expects to come from it.
Funnily enough, his team lost on a missed 3-pointer by Manu Ginobili against the Raptors. The miss was followed by several other close range misses before Kahwi Leonard got a layup to go in, leaving San Antonio with a three-point deficit.
On the other end the Raptors held on to the ball and grabbed the offensive rebound to stop Popovich’s team from taking a “circus sort of” shot to tie the game. Maybe if there was a 5-point line, the Spurs could have won.
DeAndre Puts His Name In the Hat For Dunk of the Year
Chris Paul found DeAndre Jordan for what he might have thought was just a simple assists, but CP3 ended up being an accessory to the crime of the murder of Greg Monroe.
With a 109-95 victory the Los Angeles Clippers continue to erase some early season struggles, but for the Milwaukee Bucks another loss makes their job of finding a playoff spot a little tougher. Milwaukee is four games back of eighth place and the teams in between aren’t exactly going to roll over either. It is only December, but the Bucks aren’t making it any easier on themselves.
Butler Sets a New Career-High
Derrick Rose isn’t looking like the All-Star point guard fans were hoping he could be, but Jimmy Butler has been stepping up to fill the void. In came in a loss on Wednesday, but Butler set a new career-high with 36 points in a 105-100 loss to the Boston Celtics.
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The Chicago Bulls still hold on to the eighth-place spot and a playoff berth in the Eastern Conference, which is all they need to wreak havoc once the playoffs come. It is hard to imagine that Rose doesn’t improve from where he’s at now, but if he does the Bulls won’t be a team anyone wants to deal with in the playoffs.