Raptors could be one of 20 teams with record treys
Lowry, DeRozan exceed personal bests
TORONTO — As the records fall and the NBA becomes a paradise for long-range shooters, the decision made by the Raptors brain trust last summer to focus on three-point shooting is making more and more sense.
The Houston Rockets, the poster franchise for beyond-the-arc shooting, established a new single-season record for three-pointers made on Sunday. They had 1,184 entering Tuesday’s game against Washington, three more than the record they set last season, and they have another four games remaining. The Rockets are the only team to make more than 1,100 threes in a season; the 2015-16 Golden State Warriors are third on the list with 1,077.
“It’s safe to say a Mike D’Antoni team will be the first team that averages 50 threes in a game,” Miami coach Erik Spoelstra told reporters last week of his Rockets counterpart.
“We can laugh at that now. But it will happen, and his team will probably be the first to do it. His first team that allegedly changed the game only averaged 23 threes a game, that 2004-05 Suns team. And look where they are now, basically doubling that up almost.”
The Rockets are the extreme example but, while it is a matter of scale and personnel, the Raptors have been equally impressive.
Toronto had already shredded its franchise marks before Tuesday’s game in Cleveland, for made three-pointers (900) and attempts (2,499). The previous marks — 726 makes in 2,060 attempts — came in the 2014-15 season.
It is a trend throughout the league. By the time the regular season ends on April 11, it’s expected that 20 of the league’s 30 teams will have established new franchise records for the most three-pointers made in a season.
“We all like to get out there, shoot a lot of threes, spread the floor and try to move the ball as much as you can,” D’Antoni told The Associated Press. “Everybody is more or less the same ... with the same outline. Just get it done in different ways.”
The Raptors had a franchise record of 17 consecutive games with at least 10 made three-pointers snapped by Boston last Saturday, but with 56 games of 10 or more makes they are already 19 ahead of last season.
Toronto coach Dwane Casey said before the season began that he’d like to see his team attempt somewhere near 30 threes a game, up from 24 year ago. The Raptors are going to exceed even his expectations; they were averaging 32.9 per game with six games left in the regular season.
No one has benefitted more from the change in philosophy than the team’s all-star backcourt. DeMar DeRozan and Kyle Lowry have each already topped their career single-season marks in three-pointers tried and made, with Lowry having set a new franchise standard.
“The guy works on his three, gets in early in the morning, comes in before the games and gets it up,” Casey said of Lowry. “And I think, too, taking the minutes down some has helped his consistency. He’s not as worn down as he’s been the last few years.
“He’s made himself into a great three-point shooter. The guy works on it. We run a lot of sets for him to get ’em, and he takes ’em.”
Like so many others in the league.