Maybe it is the three-ball. Perhaps it is all about small ball.
Whatever the reasons, NBA teams have had few problems putting the ball in the basket through the first week of the regular season.
A third of the league is averaging 110 or more, and the Brooklyn Nets became the first team to score 115 in their first four games in 32 years — and they only won half of them, because they were giving up more than 120 a night.
Photo: AP
The floor is open and offenses are flowing with ease.
“The game has changed. Offense has changed in the last 10 years radically just because the players are getting better, they shoot the ball better, offense has opened up, three-point line, everybody shoots now,” Houston Rockets coach Mike D’Antoni said. “So the offense has changed radically. Defense traditionally has not changed that much.”
It is advantage offense in a big, entertaining fashion.
D’Antoni ran the NBA’s most potent offense when he was in Phoenix a decade ago, and in 2006 to 2007, the Suns were the only team to average 110 for the season, finishing at 110.2.
That would have barely cracked the top 10 entering Tuesday’s play.
The Nets — yes, the Nets — are leading the way, averaging 123.5 a night.
The system of playing small and firing three-pointers might have been sneered at then, but it is practically becoming the norm now.
“It’s hard to keep your bigs in the game now, so there’s nobody tall at the rim anymore,” Orlando coach Frank Vogel said. “I think that’s made offense a lot easier. It’s really just kind of a style of play and stylistically teams are playing with more shooting and more guards and more speed and less rim protection around the basket, so it’s definitely benefited the offense.”
Brooklyn are the first team since the Lakers, Pacers and Pistons in 1985 to 1986 to open with four straight 115-point games.
D’Antoni believes defenses will have to evolve, because “they can’t keep up with the offense.”
That, NBA fans, is an understatement.
Four-time NBA all-star DeMarcus Cousins arrived in Taiwan with his family early yesterday to finish his renewed contract with the Taiwan Beer Leopards in the T1 League. Cousins initially played a four-game contract with the Leopards in January. On March 18, the Taoyuan-based team announced that Cousins had renewed his contract. “Hi what’s up Leopard fans, I’m back. I’m excited to be back and can’t wait to join the team,” Cousins said in a video posted on the Leopard’s Facebook page. “Most of all, can’t wait to see you guys, the fans, next weekend. So make sure you come out and support the Beer
Revelations of positive doping tests for nearly two dozen Chinese swimmers that went unpunished sparked an intense flurry of accusations and legal threats between the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and the head of the US drug-fighting organization, who has long been one of WADA’s fiercest critics. WADA on Saturday said it was turning to legal counsel to address a statement released by US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) CEO Travis Tygart, who said WADA and anti-doping authorities in China swept positive tests “under the carpet by failing to fairly and evenly follow the global rules that apply to everyone else in the world.” The
Taiwanese judoka Yang Yung-wei on Saturday won silver in the men’s under-60kg category at the Asian Judo Championships in Hong Kong. Nicknamed the “judo heartthrob” in Taiwan, the Olympic silver-medalist missed out on his first Asian Championships gold when he lost to Japanese judoka Taiki Nakamura in the finals. Yang defeated three opponents on Saturday to reach the final after receiving a bye through the round of 32. He first topped Laotian Soukphaxay Sithisane in the round of 16 with two seoi nage (over-the-shoulder throws), then ousted Indian Vijay Kumar Yadav in the quarter-finals with his signature ude hishigi sankaku gatame (triangular armlock). He
Rafael Nadal on Wednesday said the upcoming French Open would be the moment to “give everything and die” on the court after his comeback from injury in Barcelona was curtailed by Alex de Minaur. The 22-time Grand Slam title winner, back playing this week after three months on the sidelines, battled well, but eventually crumbled 7-5, 6-1 against the world No. 11 from Australia in the second round. Nadal, 37, who missed virtually all of last season, is hoping to compete at the French Open next month where he is the record 14-time champion. The Spaniard said the clash with De Minaur was