Miami Heat point guard Goran Dragic has been on fire from 3-point range recently. Let’s dive further into the numbers.
Goran Dragic is putting together his best stretch in a Miami Heat uniform, and a large part of that has been the rediscovery of his 3-point shot.
Dragic has scored double digit points in eight-straight games, and in nine of Miami’s last 10. Prior to those eight games, his longest such streak as a Miami Heat point guard was three games.
Over the last 10 games, Dragic is shooting 50 percent (16 of 32) from 3-point range and averaging 3.2 attempts from beyond the arc per game.
Though it is admittedly a small sample size, those numbers far surpass Dragic’s career averages of 35.9 percent on 2.8 3-point attempts per game.
It does, however, start to bring Dragic’s lower 2015-16 averages closer to par with those career averages.
Part of the reason for Dragic finding his shot is that he’s more comfortable in the offense. Over the last 10 games, Dragic’s usage rate is up to his highest mark of the season. As we know, Dragic likes the ball in his hands. When he didn’t have the ball in his hands as much as he liked, he demanded a trade from Phoenix. Erik Spoelstra seems more comfortable with him running the offense now, and the numbers back that up.
Dragic’s usage rate has improved every month this season. From 15.4 percent in October, to 19.5 percent in November, to 20.3 percent in December, to 21.8 percent in January.
What’s more is that Dragic is not taking more 3-pointers. He’s simply just making more of them. Over the last 10 games, about 27 percent of Dragic’s shots came from beyond the 3-point line–a similar clip to his season average. However, he’s gone from making less than 32 percent of them to 50 percent.
His shot charts tell the story:
Season:
Last 10 games:
But where and when are these shots coming from?
According to NBA.com’s tracking stats, Dragic isn’t taking over ball games and shooting off the dribble a la Steph Curry. An overwhelming amount of Dragic’s 3-point attempts come off catch-and-shoot situations (as is par with the rest of the league) and he’s converting on a fantastic 64 percent of those in the last 10 games.
Most of Dragic’s shots come mid-way through the shot clock, illustrating that Miami is using the clock for motion and ball movement to create open looks. Just like this. It’s a credit to Miami’s improved ball movement, which most often is initiated by Dragic himself.
Clearly, this is not sustainable. Dragic can’t shoot at a 50 percent clip from 3-point range for the rest of the season. However, his steadily improving numbers are encouraging and that’s the key takeaway here.