The modern NBA offensive attack is built around shooting from downtown, something that drives Gregg Popovich crazy.
For years, Pop has railed against the long-distance bomb, this despite his San Antonio Spurs’ heavy (and smart) use of the shot.
The legendary head coach is resigned to the fact that three-pointers are an integral part of the game—the Spurs jacked up 26 of them in a 97-94 loss to the Toronto Raptors last night—even if he doesn’t like them.
Per CBS Sports:
“I still hate it,” Popovich said. “I’ll never embrace it. I don’t think it’s basketball. I think it’s kind of like a circus sort of thing. Why don’t we have a 5-point shot? A 7-point shot? You know, where does it stop, that sort of thing. But that’s just me, that’s just old-school. To a certain degree, you better embrace it or you’re going to lose. And every time we’ve won a championship, the 3-point shot was a big part of it. Because it is so powerful and you’ve gotta be able to do it. And nobody does it better than Golden State, and you know where they’re at. So it’s important. You can’t ignore it.”
The Spurs start two traditional big men in LaMarcus Aldridge and Tim Duncan, they’re one of the slowest teams in the league and their 3-point attempts have dipped from 22.5 to 18.8 per game this season. Is there a way to counteract what the 23-0 (Golden State) Warriors are doing with size?
“No,” Popovich said. “We all think about that all the time, right? Because nobody is as powerful with that 3-point shot as Golden State is. To date, none of us has figured it out.” […] “The 24-second shot makes it kind of tough,” he continued. “You say, ‘Well, you have an advantage at the other end, use your big guys.’ If there wasn’t a 24-second clock, that would work a whole lot better.”
