I take your point, but would you prefer teams spend 24 seconds walking the ball up the floor, isolating someone, and throwing up a BS shot? It's pretty easy to play defense when the offense is terrible.

Each to their own, I guess.

That Adelaide game had high shooting percentages.

The NBA is moving to exploit the strength of the three point shot. Pointless judging scorelines without any accounting for pace, types of shot taken, etc.

Easy to cherrypick scores when there are so many games being played.

OP, the increased scoring has nothing to do with lack of defense, it's from teams taking so many more 3pt attempts and the increased pace of play. More 3s equals more points, and more possessions equals more chances to score.

The old school basketball "purists" don't like it because teams dont run an extended set for 18 seconds to get what they called a "good" shot, but why run an offense vs a set defense when you can push it up and get that same guy an open 3 after the first penetration and pass.

Those dumb purists used to criticize Larry Bird for shooting an open 3 in transition, shows how little they actually used analytics.

Yep it turns me on. I got a semi just reading all those high scores and early shots

This is why I would not be keen on NBL going to say a fifty game season. Would we want the NBL to become a bruise free marathon just like the NBA?

Melbourne Boy, good defences limit the amount of early open shots a team can get, so it definitely is a factor, along with the increased willingness to push the pace and test the defence as you pointed out.

When NBA teams pick up their D in the playoffs it generally sees scores drop, and if they played fewer games in the regular season I imagine they would spend more time and effort figuring out how to disrupt specific opponents.

Paul, you're correct that in the playoffs the defense picks up, but that's because you have a week to prepare and then 2 weeks to play the series, with the entire coaching and analytics team focussing on one opponent, plotting the defensive schemes to shut them down.

It bugs me when people call out todays NBA players that they don't try on defense like back in the 90s, go watch an entire game on YouTube from the mid 90s when the D was supposedly so tough, you'll be very surprised how much its 5 guys playing 1 on 1 with poor spacing and shot selection.

Don't disagree with you there, people often think of the past as better when it's not. In athletics or swimming you can't argue with the improvement over time because the results are cut and dried. In team sports there is still that room for nostalgia!

Having said that, NBA teams and players don't put the time and effort into defence other top leagues do because of their condensed schedule. The next step in the NBA game's evolution will most likely be improving defensive transition to force teams to execute more against set defence.

In the playoffs you have better teams playing each other swell. The intensity lifts on defence.
The jazz/warriors game was a cracker. Going shot for shot until Jazz broke it open only for Warriors to peg them back.
36ers and Kings played at high pace. Both teams shot at a good percentage. It was a very good quality high standard game.
Teams are taking their opportunity to score early and get a good shot rather than rushed shot as shot clock winds down.

"36ers and Kings played at high pace. Both teams shot at a good percentage. It was a very good quality high standard game."

A lot of Kings games in recent games have been good on the eye (which is different to high standard), and a big part of that is they aren't good defensively so it makes it easier for opponents to look good. Mix in a team like Adelaide who want to score quick and rush opponents and it makes for an entertaining game most times they meet.

The transition defense preference has already started to take effect, ORB rates are at all time lows as teams are now sending all 5 players back on D rather than crashing just to try and stop an open 3 on a short rotation.

Also, analytics gurus are saying we're only scratching the surface with how many 3s are being taken. Think about it, 20 attempts in the 90s was very high, then 30, 40, qnd now last season Houston became the first team to attempt more 3s than 2s, and people think that's high.

Soon every team will be attempting more 3s than 2s and someone like Houston will be attempting 70% of their shots behind the arc. I'm not necessarily saying that's good, just that it will happen.

The game evolves every now and again.

At some point, for any multitude of reasons, the game will revert to low post scoring.

It may not be soon, but once teams work out a better way to stop three ball basketball, the game will change again.

It's getting a bit stupid. The style makes people think they're better shooters than what they are.

You had the Thunder shoot 39 threes today. Which is astonishing for a team with mostly average 3 point shooters (bar maybe Abrines).

Patterson for example shot 6 three today. Crazy high for a poor shooter.

I don't know where across the line coaches seemingly stopped getting on guys backs for shooting too many 3s.

Not sure what Donovan is saying to his troopers but if he isn't getting on guys hard about that stuff he probably deserves to be unemployed.

What's the point here?

The NBA has the best talent, they will shoot the ball and hit shots, their athletes get to the rim easier and their bigs are harder to stop, they have extended the 3 point line out a foot and a half beyond FIBA rules and all of this adds up to opening the court and making defending more difficult.

MACDUB, accounting for the extra point, Patterson is better off taking threes than twos! For a PF, his FG numbers are poor either way. His 3P% was better than Abrines last season though.

Two things that are fairly sure in sport:

1 A lot of teams will try and emulate the best team at the time
2 Very very few will be able to do it well

The next great team after the Warriors is likely to be one that finds the next step of evolving the way the game's played.

^Or, has the best spread of elite talent...

I haven't looked at the actual % but it appears 3pt % is really high. Basically an open 3 is as good as a layup...
Teams are using the 3pt more than ever and there is no longer any problem pulling the trigger early even on a break.