it was briefly mentioned, but you can't gauge two's vs three's without accounting for FT's. Blazers converted 18 FT's a game last season and most of those came from fouls committed inside the three point line keep in mind that one thing that makes Dame so effective is his ability to draw fouls off the dribble. That also gets the other team in the bonus sooner also, as mentioned, bot all two's are the same. Portland is shooting 63% at the rime so that's 126 points per 100 shots
The Pacers and Kings games are a good example of the contrast in what swish3 efficiency and game play focus does to determine win versus loss. The Pacer loss Jan 14 resulted from shooting only 13 of 43 swish3s (only 30%). losing rebounds 50 to 43, and losing turnovers 18 to 12. The Kings win Jan 13 resulted from shooting 23 of 48 (48%!), losing rebounds 38 to 42, and winning turnovers 8 to 13. Swish3s remain a powerful offensive weapon, and we need for at least Dame, CJ, Gary, and 2 others to be ready to contribute. In this season, the Blazers are averaging 16.4 swish3s per game, and need to aim for at least 17 swish3s made per game to keep up the 58.3% winning record that would mean 42 wins for the season and likely making the playoffs.
Trent is actually tied right now with CJ in three point efficiency: .434 GT is also launching 5 three attempts per game (8 per 36 minutes). Melo is hitting a career high (by a longshot) of .435. He's the guy I worry about regressing the most. Interestingly, this looks to be the first year that Melo doesn't average 12+ FGA's. (He's averaging 9 right now.) Even on a per 36 minute basis, he's shooting the least number of shots in his career. Nearly half are 3 pointers. He's kind of become who we thought Anthony Tolliver was.
