Speculation Warriors! The smartest team in the three-point era!

The three-point craze was started by the Golden State Warriors, and it is likely to be ended by them.

In the 2014-15 season, the Warriors averaged 30.5 three-pointers per game, leading the league. That year, they used a tsunami of unstoppable firepower to completely subvert the concept of basketball. Before that, the spark of the three-point trend had actually been planted. In the 2013-14 season, the Rockets had averaged 26 three-point shots per game, ranking first in the league.

The magic ball theory made the Rockets the first team to believe in data. They believe that three-pointers and the basket are the most cost-effective investments in the basketball world. But after the Warriors appeared, everything changed.

The Warriors have pushed this theory to the extreme and made it artistic.

The ball was circulating on the court, and there were endless off-ball screens. Curry and Klay's unsolvable movements made three-pointers a super weapon. And when the entire league began to imitate the Warriors, no one could replicate the Warriors' glory.

On the surface, both the Fire and Warriors teams believe in data and respect offensive space. They have also relied on chemical reactions to become a strong team. However, the difference is that the Rockets are believers in the magic ball, while the Warriors are artists of basketball. While Harden's Rockets are challenging the entire league in "high pick-and-roll + one-on-one three-pointers" time and time again, the Warriors' basketball is constantly rotating.

Rocket’s story is very exciting, but also very cruel. In the era when the Warriors won three championships in four years, they were the only team that could make the Warriors feel pressured. But basketball is never a formula. Theory can win data, but it cannot win championships. As the Warriors continue to move forward, the Rockets' magic ball system has been eaten away by time, leaving behind a salary burden and unfinished dreams.

Spurs coach Popovich once said:

"I hate three-pointers. I have hated them for 20 years. Three-pointers make basketball boring, but I have to use it to win."

In 2014, the Spurs won the championship with selfless conduct and precise outside shooting. They were once the pinnacle of team basketball. However, ten years later, the Spurs have been far away from the playoffs early, but ironically, they were also the trendy team in the three-point era.

This also makes people think: What is the correct basketball?

In contrast, Popovich's rationality failed to change the league. Instead, the Warriors relied on mid-range and offensive rhythm to break the magic ball restriction.

Looking back at the Warriors during their two consecutive championships, although they are a three-point team, they do not only rely on three-pointers to win. From the data point of view, they are the team with the highest mid-range shooting rate in the playoffs. It goes without saying that Durant is efficient in the mid-range, and even without Adu, the Warriors can still penetrate the opponent's defense with screens, air cuts and mid-range shots.

When Durant unexpectedly retired from injury, Cole resumed the pick-and-roll tactics. Green's short mid-range shot and Klay's mid-range response became the Warriors' new weapons. They switch freely between three-pointers and mid-range shots, redefining the three-point wave.

Obviously, the Warriors' offense is not just about three-pointers, as Kerr later warned the entire league:

"Too many three-pointers will cause counterforce."

The Warriors know how to balance, they create trends, and they also know how to close the tide.

There was another team that also lost its way in the three-point craze: the Thunder.

At his peak, Westbrook was undoubtedly a superstar, tearing apart the defense on his own. However, from a team perspective, the Thunder never paired him with a suitable outside shooter group.

In the 2018-19 season, the Thunder ranked 13th in three-point attempts per game, but their field goal percentage was only 34.8%, eighth from the bottom in the league. Grant and Ferguson are the only two players on the team whose outside shooting percentage exceeds 35%. But the cruel thing is that the two averaged less than two three-pointers per game. Comparing the Warriors' perimeter efficiency in the same year, the gap is visible to the naked eye.

For the Thunder, they seemed to have mistakenly believed that "the more you shoot, the more you will score", but the result was backfired by efficiency. When long-range shots continue to strike, the team system is completely unbalanced, and Westbrook and George are not as strong as they appear on the surface, and they naturally fall into the quagmire.

Of course, the Thunder's problems back then were not just the players, there were also deviations in the direction of the team. General manager Presti has a unique vision in drafting, which is what many fans say about him, but from a direction perspective, he seems to prefer hard-working players. He can dig out blue-collar players, but he always misses shooters. And those players he brought to the Thunder seemed to have truly exploded after leaving the Thunder.

Fate is cruel, but the logic is simple:

There is no space, and there is nowhere to display your talents.

When the league swarmed after three-pointers, the Warriors were already quietly correcting their direction. They were still shooting three-pointers, but they no longer blindly pursued quantity, and finally returned to the top in 2022.

In the trend, they have become the starting point and the final end of the era.

Perhaps this is the only truth in the ever-evolving basketball world. The real strong is not to create trends, but to see the direction in the trends. And this is correct basketball.