To three or not to three — that isn’t even a question in the NBA anymore. The darling of the analytics crowd and the weapon of first choice for today’s NBA players, the 3-pointer has become the new glamour shot in American basketball. It seems like everyone is go for launch these days.
On the cusp of their second straight NBA title, the Golden State Warriors have made the 3-pointer de rigueur in American basketball culture. They’ve turned the outside shot into the in shot. Kids want to imitate Golden State sharpshooters Steph Curry and Klay Thompson. They want to drain step-back threes, launch catch-and-shoot rainbows, and fire away from 25 feet, just like the Splash Brothers.
The Warriors hit 1,077 3-pointers during the regular season, becoming the first team in NBA history to make 1,000 in a season. Golden State set an NBA record for 3-pointers in an NBA Finals game with 17 in its Game 4 victory over the Cleveland Cavaliers. In that game, the Warriors shot a higher percentage on 3-pointers, 47.2 percent (17 of 36), than they did on traditional shots, 35.6 percent (16 of 45).
My country ’tis of three, and I’m good with it, especially if it comes with spreading the floor, upping the offense, and adopting the half-court choreography of the Warriors.
The proliferation of 3-pointers is an affront to some basketball cognoscenti. But an American basketball culture obsessed with shooting is one I’ll happily pledge allegiance to over one obsessed with dunking. I’ll gladly trade ESPN glorifying long-range proficiency instead of promoting dunk after mindless dunk.
American basketball has caught up and caught on when it comes to shooting. It was just 12 years ago that America faced a crisis of confidence when it came to shooting. The disastrous 2004 Olympic team was the nadir.
That team of NBA players, led by Allen Iverson, was long on jaw-dropping athleticism and short on shooting, which is at a premium in the international game.
Many decried the decline of fundamental play in the United States after the 2004 Olympic team’s ignominious effort in Athens resulted in a bronze medal. They should have given them iron, because that’s what they hit.
The 2004 team shot 44 of 140 from the shorter international 3-point line, 31.4 percent. That ranked 10th out of 12 teams at Olympus. Team USA opponents made 86 of 195 3-point attempts (44.1 percent).
At the time, the international 3-point line was just 20 feet 6.1 inches. It was moved to 22 feet 1.7 inches beginning in 2010. (By comparison, the NBA line is 23 feet 9 inches at its longest point.)
Teams just packed it on the red-white-and-blue bricklayers, negating their athleticism and limiting their freedom of movement.
In a stunning 92-73 loss to Puerto Rico — its first in the Olympics using NBA players — Team USA shot just 3 of 24 from 3-point range.
The best 3-point shooter on that team was Iverson, who made 36.6 percent of his threes (15 of 41).
For his NBA career, Iverson was a 31.3 percent 3-point shooter. The Answer often didn’t have one from beyond the arc.
It looked like the country in which the game was invented had forgotten the most basic facet of the game: shooting.
When the one and only Dream Team rampaged through the 1992 Olympics, it seemed as if it would be decades before the world could break the US hoops hegemony.
It was like the fall of the Roman Empire, with the decadence of dunks and And1 Mixtape Tour moves as the cause of vitiation.
Coupled with a calamitous sixth-place finish in the 2002 World Championships that snapped a 58-game winning streak, the 2004 Olympic failure forced some soul-searching about American basketball culture, a reconsideration of USA Basketball’s approach to selecting the team, and a rededication to emphasizing the fundamentals over flash.
The course correction was obvious in the 2012 Olympics. The 2012 US Olympic team set a US record for 3-pointers (129) and 3-point percentage (44 percent). It also set the team record for 3-pointers in a game with 29 against Nigeria.
Kevin Durant set the US record for most 3-pointers made during an Olympics with 34.
Expect it to be bombs away again this summer at the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro.
Any savvy Celtics fan knows that it was Chris Ford of the Celtics who hit the first 3-pointer in NBA history in 1979. The shot had been in the ABA in 1967 and in the short-lived American Basketball League in 1961.
Larry Bird elevated it to a demoralizing dagger.
Now, it’s a way of life.
Everyone in the league is looking for shooters, which is why we care how many uncontested 3-pointers Kentucky’s Jamal Murray drilled in his workout with the Celtics. Murray is Canadian, for the record.
This season, the per-team league average for 3-pointers attempted was 24.1. During the 1985-86 season, it was 3.3.
Curry averaged 11.2 3-point attempts per game this season. It wasn’t until 1994-95 that the NBA teams averaged double-digit attempts (15.3).
It’s not a coincidence that the Warriors and the Cavaliers entered the NBA Finals as the teams with the most 3-pointers in the playoffs. It’s how the game has evolved.
When LeBron James and Kyrie Irving sent the series back to Cleveland with scintillating twin 41-point efforts in the Cavaliers’ Game 5 win Monday night, they combined for all but one of Cleveland’s 3-pointers. LeBron shot 4 of 8 from beyond the arc and Irving was 5 of 7.
American basketball has become shoot from long range first and ask questions later.
That’s true whether you seek the golden Larry O’Brien NBA Championship trophy or a gold medal.
Christopher L. Gasper can be reached at cgasper@globe.com. Follow him on Twitter @cgasper.
