Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
Goran Dragic turns deadly at 3-point range.
Guard’s long-shot ability becomes talk of the team
MILWAUKEE, Wis. — The indignation was playful and yet factual.
So as the Miami Heat celebrated their 11th consecutive victory and prepared to move on to their game tonight against the Milwaukee Bucks, teammates Hassan Whiteside and James Johnson wondered to anyone and everyone within earshot in the locker room how Goran Dragic could have been snubbed for the 3-point contest during All-Star Weekend.
“That man,” Johnson said, “get him in there.”
While Dragic is not in that competition, he is in a zone, especially in February, shooting 13 of 16 on 3-pointers over the past three games, including 7 of 9 Monday in a victory over the Minnesota Timberwolves at Target Center. It has lifted him to second in the NBA in 3-point percentage, behind only the Washington Wizards’ Otto Porter.
“He’s in a great place, mentally, physically,” coach Erik Spoelstra said.
Especially when lined up behind the arc, the exaggerated wrist flex at the end of his restructured shot practically mirroring those dragon emojis that accompany the nightly accounting of his outside excellence.
“The rim looks huge,” Dragic acknowledged, now leading all NBA starting point guards with his .448 3-point percentage, with at least one 3-pointer in each of the past 15 games, the longest such streak of his career.
And yet this is about more than longdistance daggers. Because along with that 13
of 16 on 3-pointers this month, there also were nine assists Monday, after recording eight the game before against the Philadelphia 76ers at American-Airlines Arena.
“His confidence level has grown,” Spoelstra said, “but his game has also improved now. He started out the game knocking down the threes, but down the stretch those aren’t the shots you’re going to get, open threes. And then he was able to put the ball on the floor and make plays.”
In a season that began seemingly with a search for something better, or different, at point guard, including fascination with a lottery class of point guards that includes UCLA’s Lonzo Ball, Washington’s Markelle Fultz and North Carolina State’s Dennis Smith, the Heat appear to have their point guard of the future already in place.
“The growth in his game,” Spoelstra said, “it’s tremendous player development and expanding his off-the-dribble game.”
Nearly all of Dragic’s recent 3-pointers have been a matter of stepping into his shots, a product of ball movement he often starts and others finish, hitting him in rhythm.
Dragic made his first seven 3-point attempts Monday, helping the Heat push to a 14-point lead.
“The first four 3-pointers were really easy,” he said. “I mean, there was no contest. Credit to my teammates, they were finding me on the open shots. It was just one of those nights that I felt really comfortable shooting the ball.”
And yet it was dominance with humility, typifying the selflessness of a winning streak now tied for fifth-longest in the franchise’s 29 seasons, one victory shy of tying for thirdlongest.
“Every night it’s a different guy,” Dragic said. “It’s not like that I knew that before the game that I’m going to go off. You just try to take what a game gives you.”
No sooner was the game over than Whiteside posted on Twitter: “Name a starting PG with a better percentage from three this season than Goran Dragic. Put him in the 3-point contest.”
Replied Goran on his feed, “I’ll go if [Whiteside] is in the dunk contest.”
Instead, having been at the depths of 11-30 when most of the All-Star Weekend assignments were decided, the Heat will be reduced to spectators.
Dragic’s performance Monday allowed the Heat to establish a season high with 15 3-pointers, including 11 in the first half, the Heat’s highest single-game total since converting 15 against the Memphis Grizzlies on April 9, 2014.
Dragic said there is nothing particularly different in his game beyond the subtle tweak in his shooting rhythm.
“I’m more consistent,” he said. “I had a great summer. This is the best shape I’ve been in my life, and just hard work pays off.”