For the second time this month, the unheralded Cleveland Cavaliers big-timed the Nuggets and left them wondering if the NBA’s most hotly debated trend is too overwhelming to ignore.
Are too many 3s bad for the game of basketball?
No NBA city is more insulated from the nationally relevant discussion than Denver, where the more appropriate question remains this: Are not enough 3s bad for the Nuggets?
Tenth-year coach Michael Malone hasn’t wavered publicly in his stance that generating a few more attempts per game could benefit them, but that Denver’s defensive regression is the far more alarming problem.
In both losses to Cleveland, the two topics were intrinsically related. The ongoing tug-of-war between the Nuggets’ style and the direction of the league leaves Denver’s perimeter defense with a smaller margin for error. The effects of not shooting enough 3s are mostly felt when an opponent makes a ton of them.
The Cavs take and make a ton of them.
“We’re an elite offensive team … and we’ve never been a high-volume 3-point shooting team,” Malone said, referring to past seasons. “… And so it’s the old-school battle between 2s versus 3s. And obviously this year, we’re 16-13. We have a very good offense. Our defense isn’t where it needs to be. And if you’re not going to make a lot of 3s, last year we were OK because we were second in only giving up 11.2 (makes per game). So that’s the big difference this year from last year.”
To be exact, the Nuggets are allowing 14.1 made 3s per game, ranking seventh-worst in the league. They’re also allowing 39.1 attempts on average, which is sixth-worst, as opposed to 31.5 last season (second-best). It’s a staggering difference, one that might illuminate the most serious peril of a perimeter-resistant offense.
What if opponents are so hyper-aware of the potential math advantage that their gameplan for Denver involves hunting more 3s?
The Cavaliers certainly hunted them, but they do that against everyone.
“That’s how that roster’s been built (to shoot 3s). You look at their roster, I think they have seven guys shooting over 40% from three. We have two,” Malone said. “They have shooting everywhere. Off the bench. Starting lineup. They get them in transition. They get them off pick-and-rolls.”
Against Cleveland’s high volume of pick-and-rolls, Denver was vulnerable to surrendering pull-up 3s to Donovan Mitchell, who exploited subpar screen navigation from the Nuggets’ guards. His 6-for-12 night led the charge as the Cavs became the second team in NBA history to make 20 or more 3-pointers in four straight games.
Failing to fight over a screen can often set the tone for entire defensive possessions, even if the result isn’t merely a pull-up. Teams that share the ball can force the Nuggets to chase rotations around the perimeter, exhausting themselves and often still giving up a clean shot.
“It’s a mindset. I don’t think we’re there yet,” Christian Braun told The Denver Post. “The last few years — we’ve always been an offensive team, but we’ve brought it on defense. We’ve done a better job than we have this year. It’s just a mindset thing. It’s a physicality thing. It’s, ‘I’m going to be into the ball, and I’m not going to get screened.’ And it starts with me, because I’m probably in the most of them. So I need to be better. We all need to be better. And I think setting the tone (by) fouling. I know it sounds weird, but sometimes fouling from the jump will help us and set the tone, even with the referees: Hey, this is how we’re going to defend.”
Malone and Denver’s players heaped praise on the Cavs after being swept in the season series. Even on a night when the Nuggets shot 49% from three and logged their eighth-highest scoring game since the start of the championship season, they were playing from behind by double-digits the entire second half.
Whenever they chipped away with successive baskets, Cleveland usually answered with a three. The Nuggets won 68-50 in the paint. The Cavaliers won 69-45 from outside the arc.
In the second half, they passed up a layup during a 3-on-1 fast break. They wanted the open corner three more.
Are too many 3s bad for the game of basketball?
Malone’s defiant answer led him back to roster construction.
“I can’t answer that,” he said. “I think each team’s gotta do what’s best for their own team. We’re not a high-volume 3-point shooting team. That’s not the make-up of our roster. … Their roster, they have that. Is it too much? Is it too little? I don’t know. The game is always changing. As the evolution of the 3-point shot (continues), teams are taking more and more because there’s more value in them. But, I mean, there’s a big debate right now. I don’t give a (crap) about that debate. I’m trying to coach my team and get us to play a lot better than we have been.”
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