3s vs 2s

["Thomas Murphy" <tfmiii@worldnet.att.net>]

Just a quick note: while a 37% shooter from behind the 3 pt line equals a
55% shooter on 2s *pointwise* there is no comparison when it comes to
consistency and preventing opposition fast breaks (ignoring this represents
a major fallacy of Pitinoball). Last year Antoine (to use your example)
missed 382 3pt shots whereas the 'equivalent' from 2pt range would only be
271 - a difference of 111 missed shots (or 111 potential opposition fast
breaks).

I can still remember KC Jones saying that a major key to defense is
offense - in other words, its hard for the other team to run a fast break
when they're pulling the ball out of the net. (I think stagnant offense
resulting in opposition fastbreaks was a key factor in the loss to NJ that,
unlike FTs and refs, will continue to constantly plague the team).

I agree with you that Antoine is a good 3pt shooter. However, even though it
adds up point-wise as 'equivalent' to 55% on 2s the impact on the game is
quite different - a three point shooter allows roughly 40% more fastbreak
opportunities when compared with the 'equivalent' 2pt shooter (111/271).

cheers - TomM
------------
Date: Wed, 31 Oct 2001 14:29:37 -0500
From: GAllen@dhhs.state.nh.us
Subject: Some thoughts and my prediction

>Last year Antoine
>put  it up 603 times from 3-point range, and made 221 (37%) of those shots.
>This  is  the  equivalent  of  shooting  55%  from  2-point range, a decent
>percentage, to say the least.  (221 3-point FGs = 663 points.  To score the
>same  number  of  points from 2-point range would require 332 FGs.  332/603
>=  .55).  Bottom line, Antoine is a good 3-point shooter.