32 Is The New 22: Why It’s The King’s Court Now More Than Ever

Reason #2: The Three-Ball

Ahhhh, here’s where all the Skip Bayless-esque people of the universe always have to knock the kid from Akron. The “Bron has no J” narrative is so old and now discredited with what he’s doing on the court. The other way he’s getting his buckets these days has the analytics junkies now frothing at the mouth. For a man who is 6-foot-8 and whatever weight (who really ever knows he’s just so strong compared to everyone guarding him), it’s ridiculous to have the effortless touch from deep too, on the biggest stage with all the pressure in the world on him.

In the playoffs, The Chosen One is shooting 46.8 percent from three point land. That is a higher percentage than the likes of Stephen Curry, Kevin Love, and Gordon Hayward (all three-point specialists). He’s also taking the most threes of his postseason career (28.1 percent of his field goal attempts, per Basketball Reference). I understand he doesn’t take nearly as many as those aforementioned guys do, but he’s making key threes at the right times for the Cavs.

He had six triples in the Cavs historic Game 3 comeback against star Paul George and the Pacers, and his hot shooting got the wine-and-golders confidence going when they were seemingly all but done in that contest. He also made plenty of big ones to put away the Raptors, and unfortunately for his opponents, you might have to just pray a lot before going up against him (a la David Fizdale).

You have to pick your poison against Bron, and if he keeps shooting near this level of three point marksmanship, he’s as unstoppable as any player in the history of the NBA. The third reason he’s been playing his best basketball is his usual: playmaking.