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During the\u00a02014 NBA Finals, Spurs Coach\u00a0Gregg Popovich gave his thoughts on the three-point shot in basketball.<\/p>\n
\u201cI hate it<\/a>,\u201d he\u00a0said.\u201dTo me, it\u2019s not basketball. But you gotta use it. If you don\u2019t use it, you\u2019re in trouble. Sort of feels like cheating.\u201d<\/p>\n He reiterated those same comments on Wednesday night.<\/p>\n \u201cI still hate it<\/a>,\u201d Popovich said. \u201cI\u2019ll never embrace it. I don\u2019t think it\u2019s basketball. I think it\u2019s kind of like a circus sort of thing. Why don\u2019t we have a five-point shot? A seven-point shot? You know, where does it stop, that sort of thing. But that\u2019s just me, that\u2019s just old-school. To a certain degree, you better embrace it or you\u2019re going to lose. And every time we\u2019ve won a championship, the three-point shot was a big part of it.\u201d<\/p>\n Like\u00a0Popovich says, the Spurs (begrudgingly?) use the three-point shot as part of their game plan, especially plays to get open looks at the corner three, like the Hammer<\/a>.<\/p>\n The play\u00a0starts with Tony Parker or Patrick Mills (1) bringing the ball into the front court and ends with Danny Green (2) getting the ball to Kawhi Leonard (3) for a corner three with a screen from one of the big men,\u00a0LaMarcus Aldridge or Tim Duncan (5).<\/p>\n But they aren\u2019t using the three-point shot\u00a0as much as they had in the past. In 13 of the past\u00a015 seasons the Spurs have taken an above-average rate as a percentage of their field-goal attempts. This year they are well below average.<\/p>\n Part of the decline can be attributed to the free agent signing of Aldridge who,\u00a0according to Synergy Sports, was the fourth best post-up player in the NBA (minimum 200 possessions) last year in points per play (0.94). But four of the Spurs\u2019 five most frequent three-point shooters from\u00a0last year remain\u00a0on the team, so this appears to be more a philosophy change rather\u00a0than a personnel\u00a0one.<\/p>\n Still, the lack of focus on three-point shots hasn\u2019t diminished their offensive output in any way: they score the fifth most points per 100 possessions (106.5) and have the third highest effective field goal percentage (51.6 percent).<\/p>\n But the main reason the Spurs have won better than\u00a078 percent of their games\u00a0this season\u00a0despite working less from\u00a0long range is simple: defense.<\/p>\n The Spurs allowed 102 points per 100 possessions last season, which was the second best effort in the NBA<\/a>. This year that has dropped to 94.5, better than any year they won the championship.<\/p>\n<\/a> ![\"San](\"https:\/\/img.washingtonpost.com\/news\/fancy-stats\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/28\/2015\/12\/Screen-Shot-2015-12-10-at-1.32.09-PM.png\")
<\/p>\nSan Antonio Spurs Hammer (Source: FastModel Sports)<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/a> ![\"\"](\"https:\/\/img.washingtonpost.com\/wp-apps\/imrs.php?src=https:\/\/img.washingtonpost.com\/news\/fancy-stats\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/28\/2015\/12\/Screen-Shot-2015-12-10-at-12.30.18-PM.png&w=1484\")
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