Raptors look to sustain three-point success
Wizards coach Brooks says the scenario is ‘pick your poison’
TORONTO — Washington Wizards head coach Scott Brooks ambled into the pre-game media briefing focused on that night’s National Basketball Association matchup, but still firmly aware which Toronto Raptors had done the most damage from three-point range during Saturday’s season opener.
Asked about containing the Raptors’ revamped long range attack, Brooks didn’t even need to glance at a stat sheet while rhyming off the relevant numbers.
Serge Ibaka hit three treys, as did backup guard Delon Wright. Key reserve C.J. Miles totalled 12 points, all from three-point range, and formed part of a Raptors attack that stayed on Brooks’ mind entering Game 2 of their Eastern Conference quarterfinal series.
Toronto converted 16 of 30 three-point attempts in Game 1, and their long-range success proved crucial in winning a game that saw both teams make 41 field goals.
Saturday also presented the Wizards with a dilemma entering Tuesday: whether to make adjustments to address the Raptors three-point shooting, or to change little and hope they regress to their season-long averages.
It was more of the same Tuesday night, as the Raptors sunk 13 baskets from three-point land in a 130-119 demolition of the Wizards to grab a 2-0 series lead.
Brooks acknowledges that problem has no simple solutions when the Raptors play well.
“Gambling is probably not the right word, but we’ve got to pick our poison,” Brooks said. “Some guys are better shooters than others. … You’ve got to take some percentages and go with them, and live with them. They made their shots.”
The deluge of three-pointers flows from a game plan the Raptors overhauled between seasons to address an offence the club found stagnant compared to the uptempo, three-point gunning style that defines the contemporary NBA.
So the club added proven threepoint shooters Ibaka and Miles, and encouraged DeMar DeRozan and Kyle Lowry to trade midrange two-pointers for high-yield threes. During the regular season the Raptors averaged 33 three-pointers per game, good for third in the NBA, while their 11.8 three-point field goals per game ranked fourth.
But, more than numbers, comparisons with last season provide the starkest illustration of the shift in philosophy toward the long-distance offence that has earned the Raptors a 2-0 lead in this opening round series. This season’s Raptors shot 35.4 per cent more three-pointers than last year’s club did, and converted 33.5 per cent more threes than they did in 2016-2017.
Amid all that volume, accuracy suffered slightly.
This year’s Raptors made 35.8 per cent of their three point attempts, down half a per cent compared with last season.
But they entered Game 2 coming off a game in which they converted 53 per cent of their three-pointers.
Before Tuesday’s game, Raptors head coach Dwane Casey said his club wouldn’t take similar success for granted, and that they were prepared to start fresh in game two.
“When you get into a playoff situation, just because you win one game that doesn’t mean anything,” Casey told reporters before the game.
“It’s a seven-game series and you’ve got to go in with that mindset: you haven’t accomplished anything,” the Raptors coach said.