2. Reliance on jumpshooting could doom the LA Clippers against playoff defenses
The LA Clippers are shooting a blistering 41.6 percent from 3-point range this season, the best in the league by far. It’s one of the best marks in NBA history. In a league where 3-point shots are valuable both for scoring and for spacing, it’s a good strength to have. It is also masking a weakness this team has, which is that it settles for jumpers too often.
Part of that is having two of the league’s best jump shooters. Kawhi Leonard is able to get off any shot, and he is comfortable using his strength to get into the midrange and rise up for a shot, which he hits at a solid clip. Paul George is having an excellent shooting season, and that opens up opportunities to step inside the arc.
Even with good personnel, feasting on jumpers increases a team’s variance and makes them more susceptible to cold streaks. A team needs to balance outside shooting with attempts at the rim. The Clippers are not doing that; they take just 25 percent of their shots at the rim. By contrast they take a whopping 35 percent of their shots from the mid-range, per nbashotcharts.com.
That doesn’t mean the Clippers aren’t scoring from those areas; they are the league’s second-best offense. But their poor shot diet is forming bad habits that will be hard to break when the pressure of the postseason is levied on them. Leonard and George have shown over the years, including last season, that when the easy offense is taken away they resort to isolation scoring. Leonard, George and Marcus Morris taking turns hoisting one-on-one jumpers is a win for opposing defenses.
Things have improved slightly since adding Rajon Rondo, who for all his warts brings a level of ball movement and connectedness to his teams. Yet the evidence of the last two seasons suggests that in the playoffs the Clippers will likely reap negative dividends from their approach to scoring.