Indiana Pacers: 3-point shooting has been a huge strength
By Tony East
The Indiana Pacers are exceeding most analysts’ expectations for them. Excellent 3-point shooting has been a huge factor in that.
The 2017-18 Indiana Pacers are currently doing something that has been done very infrequently over a whole season; they are shooting over 40 percent from 3-point range. The team is currently shooting a league-leading 40.4 percent from deep, good for first in the league. For reference, last year’s championship-winning Golden State Warriors team finished their historic season shooting 38.3 percent from outside the arc.
The league average is currently 36 percent from 3-point distance. If the Pacers had shot league average from deep so far this season on the same number of attempts, they would have made 20 fewer 3-pointers, so the 3-point shooting has been crucial for the squad so far.
Many players are to thank for this insane run of excellent shooting. Bojan Bogdanovic, Myles Turner, Victor Oladipo, Domantas Sabonis and Cory Joseph are all averaging a career-high 3-point percentage, and in some cases, significantly so.
Those five players account for 58.5 percent of the team’s 3-point attempts so far this season, so the fact that they are all hitting these shots at a career-best rate is encouraging. (Ironically, the lineup consisting of those five players has only shot 33.3 percent from deep).
The odd thing is that the team isn’t seeking out the deep ball, it’s just making the most of its opportunities. The Pacers rank 24th in total 3-point attempts and really only shoot when they feel open. Head coach Nate McMillan doesn’t seek out the deep ball as much as other coaches, as noted by John Schuhmann this summer. Last year, the Pacers ranked 26th in long range attempts but finished fourth in 3-point percentage.
Indiana does a really great job of making the wide open attempts it gets. Bojan Bogdanovic is taking 2.8 wide open 3-point attempts per game, per NBA.com, and he’s making 1.3 of them. The Bulls lose him on the break here, and it leads to an easy 3 in transition:
The awareness of Oladipo to get him the ball in the corner is evidence of how the team is able to shoot so well from the outside. That extra pass to the wide open man makes a team successful, especially when its a great shooter like Bogdanovic.
In similar fashion to Bogdanovic, Myles Turner is canning his wide open looks as well. 16.7 percent of his 3s are wide open, and he’s making 40 percent of these attempts.
The pick-and-pop is the biggest reason for these open looks. When Turner pops out after setting a screen, the opposing team has to make a decision: switch, or leave Turner open momentarily. When the other team decides to leave him open, this is usually what happens:
Those looks are a large part of the reason why Turner is averaging a career-high percentage from deep. A career 33.8 percent 3-point shooter, the third-year center is currently at 36.4 percent. Having your center shooting better than league-average from deep is a huge boost for the Indiana Pacers.
Arguably the biggest reason the Pacers are shooting so well from deep is shooting guard Victor Oladipo. Outside of setting up others with his good passing, Oladipo is canning threes at a significant career-high rate. Coming into the year, Oladipo’s career high was 36.1 percent from deep. This year? He’s shooting a blistering 44.7 percent from outside.
He’s hitting them in all kinds of ways; coming off of screens, in transition, spots-up, pull-ups, you name it. The Bulls make the mistake of not knowing how well he is shooting from deep this season. They lay off of Oladipo for just a split second, and he nails a pull-up 3:
Putting it all together; the wide open looks, the pick-and-pops and the pull-ups, and it’s clear to see why the Pacers are killing it from the outside.
Next: 2017-18 Week 6 NBA Power Rankings
If they can keep it up all season, the wins should keep on coming. Because they have been so good at getting wide open looks, I see no reason they can’t sustain it.