The 3-point shot isn’t killing the grand theater of the NBA playoffs, but it’s taking down the stars, one by one. This can’t be a “make or miss” league, as the saying goes, if the misfires are most remembered.
It’s one thing to lose with some dignity, as we remember from Allen Iverson, Bernard King, Jerry West and so many others who left their postseason conquerors weary from the struggle. It’s another to belittle more than a bunch of guys missing milk bottles at the county fair.
This column’s deadline arrived before Saturday night’s Game 6 of the Boston-Miami Eastern Conference finals, but there’s no more evidence required — especially when Stephen Curry becomes just another face among the vanquished. For the greatest performers in the NBA this spring, losing a series is all about the boredom of 3-point failure.
That’s the key word, isn’t it? By its nature, the shot is designed to fail. Only six players ever made half of their 3-pointers over the course of a season, per basketball-reference.com, and with the exception of Seattle’s Detlef Schrempf in 1994-95, they were all bench players (including Steve Kerr, who did it three times). In any given year, the league average is right around 33%. If you take this shot, in other words, there’s a hell of a good chance it won’t go in.
Can it be as thrilling as an 80-yard touchdown run or a grand slam into the upper deck? Absolutely, in the hands of Curry and a handful of others who turn long-range shooting into a work of art. But those marksmen lure players onto a stage they can’t handle, and now it’s an epidemic of debacle.
The list only begins with the Splash Brothers, still trying to figure out how they were outclassed by the Lakers’ D’Angelo Russell and Austin Reaves in the second round. It continues definitively among the league’s most influential scorers.
As Phoenix fell hard to Denver, Kevin Durant shot 6-for-27 from 3-point range. Cleveland’s Donovan Mitchell went 13-for-45 in the Knicks series; Atlanta’s Trae Young 18-for-54 against the Celtics; Philadelphia’s James Harden 17-for-49 against Boston, and the Knicks’ Jalen Brunson also 17-for-49 against the Heat. The proud Milwaukee Bucks never got off the ground, losing in the first round to Miami with Khris Middleton and Jrue Holiday shooting 13-for-32 and 12-for-42, respectively. Even Curry shot 10-for-39 in the Warriors’ final three games against the Lakers after sniping 13-for-28 in the first three.
Swaggerin’ Memphis got routed by a Lakers bunch that shot just 31% from 3-point range — because the Grizzlies posted the same lousy number, thanks in part to Desmond Bane’s 16-for-50. LeBron James got L.A. through two series but never did find the range, making just 28 of his 106 playoff 3-pointers. At one point of the Eastern Conference finals, Boston’s Jaylen Brown was in a 3-for-26 slump.
Put all of these guys in a room, and it might be hours before someone cracks a smile.
That doesn’t work
The NBA might want to rethink the new restriction, effective next year, that requires players to appear in at least 65 games to win a postseason award. If that were in place this year, it would wipe Giannis Antetokounmpo (63 games) off the first team, Curry (56) and Jimmy Butler (64) off the second team, and James (55) and Damian Lillard (58) off the third team. First-team choices Joel Embiid and Luka Doncic barely sneaked through at 66 each. … It’s commonly acknowledged that TNT’s “Inside the NBA” is by far the league’s best studio show, but is that always the case? Not when the ego-driven Shaquille O’Neal and Charles Barkley spend a minute or two yelling over each other (Kenny Smith chimes in, as well) with no intervention from Ernie Johnson and not a single word clearly audible. The ESPN show is smartly orchestrated by Mike Greenberg, and I’ll settle for the incisive takes from Stephen A. Smith and Mike Wilbon any time.
• Remarkable to think that the Miami Heat were one loss from elimination in the play-in tournament and wouldn’t have defeated Chicago without Max Strus, the third-year swingman from DePaul, who averaged 11.5 points during the season but poured in 31 that night.
• It hasn’t been a great spring for the Thompson brothers. While Klay ponders his self-described “disgusting” playoff exit, Trayce was hitting .109 for the Dodgers through Thursday’s games, mired in an 0-for-38 crisis and striking out nearly 44% of the time. He looks so promising at times, both at the plate and in the outfield, the Dodgers hope for some kind of revival. “Everyone goes through it,” he told reporters recently. “You’ve just got to prepare each day like it’s a new day … have that perspective of ‘I’m due’ as opposed to ‘woe is me.’ ”
• This actually could happen: former Giants managers Bruce Bochy (first-place Rangers) and Dusty Baker (Astros) in an all-Texas battle for the AL West division title. Bochy told USA Today that whenever he retires (again), he won’t make the mistake of announcing it before the season, as he did with the Giants in spring 2019. “Dumbest thing I ever did. I thought I would get it out of the way, so I didn’t have to answer questions about it, but it was terrible,” he said. “The only good thing was that I got a bunch of great liquor out of it from other teams. Well, I’m out of liquor now.”
A sight too fresh to grow old: Batters singling up the middle — a stroke right out of the fundamentalist textbook — with the exaggerated shifts mercifully eliminated. There were five walk-off singles grounded to center in the season’s first month alone, by George Springer, Kyle Farmer, Tommy Edman, Jean Segura and Miguel Cabrera (for Detroit against the Giants). … Darren Baker is just one step removed from the big leagues. Dusty’s son was hitting .325 for Rochester, the Washington Nationals’ Triple-A club, entering Friday. He doesn’t have much power (two homers), but “he’s going to make contact,” said Dusty, “because he doesn’t strike out.” He also plays a very professional second base and is a threat to steal. … Ex-Giant Mauricio Dubón led the Astros in hits (46) while Jose Altuve recovered from a hand injury, and Dubón was hitting .309 when Altuve returned to the lineup on May 19. “He stepped up,” shortstop Jeremy Peña said of Dubón. “Altuve is a void you can’t replace with anybody, but what Dubón has done has put the league on notice. He’s a great ballplayer.”
Bruce Jenkins writes the 3-Dot Lounge for the San Francisco Chronicle. Email: [email protected] Twitter: @Bruce_Jenkins1