TORONTO — There was a time, not that long ago, when DeMar DeRozan attempting 10 three-pointers in a game — and tying a career-high by hitting six of them — would register as a significant event. DeRozan, the master of mid-range, making it rain from three? Unheard-of.
And yet, that’s exactly what happened Friday, in the Toronto Raptors 130-105 dismantling of the Portland Trail Blazers. DeRozan shot from range more than anyone else in the game, and finished with just one less three-pointer than the Trail Blazers made collectively.
DeRozan hit two off high screens in the first, running around picks set by his centres before letting fly. He made two more in the second, one a catch-and-shoot behind a pin-down, another a simple pull-up on the run after a turnover. And another two in the third, one off a quick screen near the end of the shot clock, the other right in Zach Collins’ face at the beginning of a possession.
That he made them in such a variety of fashions is a testament to the volume of work DeRozan’s put in. And that all those threes didn’t seem particularly out of the ordinary speaks to the 28-year-old’s constant development and evolution as a player.
His liberal three-point shooting isn’t an exceptional event, it’s an expected one. It’s just part of his game now. One of the many things that he does.
“When you’re making shots, everything’s easy,” Raptors head coach Dwane Casey said. “DeMar came out of his three-point bag and was making shots. It makes a difference in the game when you vault up and shoot shots with conviction.”
It’s been somewhat forgotten that DeRozan didn’t shoot three-pointers much at all before this season. And when he did, he wasn’t sinking them with consistency. In his first eight NBA seasons, DeRozan averaged only 1.4 three-point attempts per game. And he hit them at a 28 percent clip.
This year? After Friday night’s win, he’s averaging 3.4 per game and converting them 35 per cent of the time. Through 51 games, he’s attempted more threes (171) than he has in any season of his career, save for 2013-14 when he attempted 210.
“DeMar’s one of the best midrange guys that the league’s seen in a long time,” said Raptors guard Fred VanVleet. “For him to be able to shoot 10 times from three is a big jump, for sure.”
Of course, it’s 2018 and all Raptors shoot threes. One of the much-discussed adjustments in playing style Casey wanted to see from his team this year was to shoot far more often from beyond the arc. Casey wants his players letting fly from distance at least 30 times a game, and on the rare nights that they haven’t the team’s offence has been out of sorts.
But Friday night Toronto attempted 40 three-pointers — spread between 10 players — and its offence was practically unstoppable. Kyle Lowry attempted six, VanVleet shot five, and four Raptors tried three. Even Jonas Valanciunas — Jonas Valanciunas! — took four, hitting a pair.
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The development of Valanciunas’ three-point shot has been a long time coming, even though it’s still not unusual to see the 25-year-old hesitate dramatically whenever he’s presented an opportunity beyond the arc. The Air Canada Centre crowd is perpetually more keen for Valanciunas to take the shot than the man himself is.
But he’s now hit 15 of the 30 he’s attempted this season, and defences are going to have to start paying attention to it. During Toronto’s loss to the Washington Wizards Thursday night, Kyle Lowry noticed Wizards head coach Scott Brooks alerting his players to pay closer attention to Valanciunas behind the arc.
“He was yelling at his guys like, ‘Hey, he can shoot,’” Lowry said. “So, I think teams are going to start picking up on it a little bit more. And now he’s going to have to make plays from that position sometimes.
“When you’ve got guys that have got the confidence to do that, it’s important. That’s what we wanted to do. We’re looking at it long term,” Lowry continued. “We’ve just got to keep playing like that.”
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We’ll see if the Raptors do. Lowry says Toronto’s new-found wealth of options from three-point range hasn’t changed the way he runs the floor, but he does think it’s made DeRozan that much more difficult to guard. Play him too close and he’ll blow by you; back off too far and he’ll hit a three.
You saw just that Friday, as DeRozan poured in 35 points before sitting out the entire fourth quarter. To go along with his six threes, DeRozan hit five shots from mid-range, and got to the free throw line eight times. That’s about as well-rounded of an offensive effort as it gets.
And it’s telling how quickly we’ve all grown accustomed to this new element to DeRozan’s game. We’re so used to him making significant improvements every summer, we don’t make enough of a fuss when it keeps happening. Prior to this season, three-point land was perhaps the one area of the floor he couldn’t reliably score from. Now, three-pointers are just another wrinkle defences have to guard against.
For his part, VanVleet is enjoying the evolution. Like Lowry, he says he isn’t specifically trying to find DeRozan more three-point opportunities than he has in the past. But, for the sake of his own assist totals, he’s quite pleased to see his teammate shooting them at will.
“Definitely, when you’re driving and you see him, your eyes light up a little bit more,” VanVleet said. “You know, instead of him holding it and killing your assist or something like that. Now he’s giving out assists and helping guys get them, as well.”
