The Lakers are beating the Knicks and Suns at their own game

[nba is the worst]

Remember last season when the Lakers' perimeter shooting was a weakness? Their regular season 3-pt FG% was .341, good for 24th out of 30 teams.

What a difference a year makes!

Here's the stats (source: ESPN as of 9:12AM PDT):

The Lakers as of today lead the league in 3-pt FG%, shooting .447 3-pt FG as a team! That's 3.0% higher than the Heat, and 4.7% better than the Suns, who are in 2nd and 3rd, respectively.

The Lakers are #1 in the league in points at 112.8 ppg, and 3rd in scoring margin at +11.7. (more than 2X their +5.33 last season after 6 games).

The Lakers have the two best (qualified) 3-pt shooters (in terms of FG%) in the NBA today, with Lamar Odom at .667 and Derek Fisher at .636. Not far behind is Shannon Brown at .533 (tied for 7th), and Steve Blake (.522, 13th).  Ron Artest is at .370 (tied for 59th). Although Kobe through the 1st 5 games was at .391, after a 0-3 game 6 he's at .346 (73rd)

Also, even MORE surprisingly, they are tied for first in 3-pointers attempted with the Knicks at 132, with the Suns third at 125.

For a detailed comparison, here's this year's/ last year's numbers (after the 1st 6 games):

Odom 8-12 .667/ 5-15 .333, +33.4%

Fisher 7-11.636/ 4-16 .250, +38.6%

Brown 8-15 .533/ 3-6 .500, +3.3%

Blake 12-23 .522/ 10-23 .435, +8.7%

Artest 10-27 .370/ 8-28  .286, +8.4%

Kobe 9-26 .346/ 3-13 .231, +11.5%

Totals 54-114 .474/ 33-101 .327, +14.7%


Although 6 games hardly defines a season-long trend, this can't be considered a good thing for the rest of the league...

[adam8]

Its a small sample size and as far as these players are concerned they are who they are no way is Odom going to shoot that well neither is Fisher or Brown. These stats aren't even worth pointing out unless its like halfway through the year

[BballTim]

  Rondo's much more likely to break Stockton's single season assist record than Fisher and Odom are to shoot in the mid 60s on threes for the year.

[nba is the worst]

  Rondo's much more likely to break Stockton's single season assist record than Fisher and Odom are to shoot in the mid 60s on threes for the year.

All are quite unlikely, IMO. All three players' numbers will likely trend downward somewhat as the sample size gets bigger.

But for the Lakers to lead the league in this category, and to have 3 guys in the top 10 and 4 in the top 15  - while chucking up as many attempts as the Knicks and 7 more than the Suns is significant.

[BballTim]

  Rondo's much more likely to break Stockton's single season assist record than Fisher and Odom are to shoot in the mid 60s on threes for the year.

All are quite unlikely, IMO. All three players' numbers will likely trend downward somewhat as the sample size gets bigger.

But for the Lakers lead the league in this category, and to have 3 guys in the top 10 and 4 in the top 15  - while chucking up as many attempts as the Knicks and 7 more than the Suns is significant.

  Isn't it a chicken and egg thing? If they weren't so hot from the outside, they'd probably be taking fewer threes.

[nba is the worst]

  Rondo's much more likely to break Stockton's single season assist record than Fisher and Odom are to shoot in the mid 60s on threes for the year.

All are quite unlikely, IMO. All three players' numbers will likely trend downward somewhat as the sample size gets bigger.

But for the Lakers lead the league in this category, and to have 3 guys in the top 10 and 4 in the top 15  - while chucking up as many attempts as the Knicks and 7 more than the Suns is significant.

  Isn't it a chicken and egg thing? If they weren't so hot from the outside, they'd probably be taking fewer threes.

Could be. I think it's at least somewhat taking what the defense gives you, and since in the past couple of seasons they didn't shoot well from the perimeter, teams tend to pack the inside and dare the Lakers to make jumpers.

So they replaced Farmar with Blake and appear to have worked on longball shooting in the offseason.

Of course, with their gravy early seasson schedule (only the Suns were a playoff team last year), this may just be a mirage due to the quality of their opponents (combined record 13-21).

[GreenFaith1819]

Interesting Post. I think that the fact of LA playing TOR, SAC, PHX, GSW, and MEM may have something to do with it?

Those teams, while each having very good players on them, are not known for defense.

I am sure that that 3 pt% will come down some after tonight. Portland may be their toughest opponent thus far this season.

LA is a great team, but I just don't see them as improving THAT much this season, no matter what their 3 pt% is thus far.

I'm sure they won't shoot like that against us.

[nba is the worst]

Interesting Post. I think that the fact of LA playing TOR, SAC, PHX, GSW, and MEM may have something to do with it?

Those teams, while each having very good players on them, are not known for defense.

I am sure that that 3 pt% will come down some after tonight. Portland may be their toughest opponent thus far this season.

LA is a great team, but I just don't see them as improving THAT much this season, no matter what their 3 pt% is thus far.

I'm sure they won't shoot like that against us.

I agree with everything you said (6 games = way too small sample size) - but it's not like the 1st six teams they played last season were great defensively either:

Clippers, Mavs, Hawks, Griz, Rockets, Thunder - with a combined record of 17-18.

However, just the increase in attempts is interesting - and with the success they've had early, it certainly bears watching.

[pearljammer10]

Can't you look at it as...

The reason they are in fact chucking up so many three point attempts is because they are shooting at such a high percentage. When the shots stop falling the are going to find a different way to beat their opponents while still taking high percentage shots at the three line rather than taking so many.

[j804]

Let's see how those percentages are against a good team like Portland tonight then well talk.

[housecall]

From the 3games ive watched the Lakers play in this season you can contribute them getting better behind the three has a lot to due with Shannon Brown's off season development.He is stretching the floor by hitting the three on a more consistent basis than last season.Actually he was deadly in a couple of those games.Also their off season pickup of Steve Blake has helped their 3pt shooting.

[LakersFan_33]

Let's see how those percentages are against a good team like Portland tonight then well talk.

3-point shooting against Portland tonight: 47.1%

Yeah they're definitely shooting the hell out of the long ball this season. A lot of this has to do with Blake and Barnes, as well as Shannon Brown's unreal improvement in his play, specifically shooting. Fisher and Odom are making their three's; Artest and Kobe, although not as well.

Competition hasn't been the greatest, so that has something to do with it. I expect the numbers to go down, but I think it's obvious that they are a much better 3-point shooting team than last year.

[nba is the worst]

Interesting Post. I think that the fact of LA playing TOR, SAC, PHX, GSW, and MEM may have something to do with it?

Those teams, while each having very good players on them, are not known for defense.

I am sure that that 3 pt% will come down some after tonight. Portland may be their toughest opponent thus far this season.

Let's see how those percentages are against a good team like Portland tonight then well talk.

Well, what happened tonight was that the Lakers shot 8-17 from the arc, RAISING their league-leading 3-point FG% to 44.96%...

[GreenFaith1819]

Yes, it seems as if LA did steamroll Portland tonight.

Well, worse case scenario is that come January 30 2011, LA's Streak is Halted....

[nba is the worst]

Yes, it seems as if LA did steamroll Portland tonight.

Well, worse case scenario is that come January 30 2011, LA's Streak is Halted....

Ha ha.

It WOULD be scary if the Lakers didn't coast to a few losses (as they always do) before then - but ESPN is cranking up the hype machine with this crap about the Lakers' potential for winning 72 games this morning - at least Adande doesn't see the Lakers winning 72 "just yet":

http://espn.go.com/nba/dailydime/_/page/dime-101107/daily-dime