The Warriors then rattled off three straight victories to win the series 4-2 and are on the verge of closing out the Western Conference finals with a 3-0 lead on the Rockets. Jackson took to Twitter again Sunday to issue some “corrected thoughts” on how the style of the NBA game has changed.
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Jackson has changed his tune a bit, but some of what he says simply doesn’t make sense.
Penetration and 3-point shooting are not mutually exclusive. Penetration is a huge key to creating open 3-point opportunities. LeBron James, Jeff Teague and James Harden were among the top 15 players in drives per game during the regular season and top five in the playoffs, per NBA.com. That means collapsing the defense and kicking out to unguarded teammates.
Taking advantage of the 3-point line doesn’t mean a shot inside the arc is devalued. During the regular season, the Warriors were in the top 10 in shots made from less than five feet and between 10-14 feet from the basket, per NBA.com.
This thinking also ignores the fact that Golden State was the most efficient team in the league defensively. It doesn’t matter where you shoot offensively if the other team can’t put the ball in the basket.
With more championship rings than available fingers, Jackson certainly has the right to share his opinion and the credibility to back it up. But teams clearly play much differently now with a heavy emphasis on shooting and positionless basketball. It might behoove Jackson to apply some of that strategy to the Knicks.
