[ad_1]
Paul George has come a long way since his rookie season 10 years ago.
He was hardly a threat beyond the 3-point line when he stormed into the NBA, but now he’s among the league leaders in long-range shooting.
George will try to keep his three-point accuracy up when the Los Angeles Clippers visit the Sacramento Kings on Friday night.
George is shooting 51.6 from beyond the 3-point arc after going 5-for-9 in a 111-106 win over the visiting New Orleans Pelicans on Wednesday night. He is 15 of 24 from long range in his last three games overall.
As a rookie with the Indiana Pacers in 2010-11, George shot just 29.7% from three-point range. He never shot better than 41% during a season until he made 41.2 percent of his 3s last season.
“Just shooting with confidence and really knowing the shots I’m going to take,” George said. “I know what to look for, I know what to expect, I know how the shots go.”
The shots have not fallen into the hands of Buddy Hield of the Kings.
Hield, who has been among the team’s top three scorers in all four seasons in the league, got another night off Wednesday in a 132-126 loss to the visiting Portland Trail Blazers.
Hield, who has fired three-quarters of his shots from 3-point range this season, finished with 9 of 21 shots from the field against Portland, the 11th time in 12 games this season that he failed to make at least half of his attempts. field goal. .
“I’m not going to pitch that bad for the rest of the season,” Hield said. “It’s a long season. It’s not a sprint, it’s a marathon.”
Defending the three-point line has also been a weakness for the Kings so far this season.
Opponents are shooting 38.9 percent from beyond the arc against Sacramento, the seventh worst in the NBA. The Trail Blazers tied a team record by making 23 against the Kings in 48 attempts.
The Clippers entered Thursday leading the league in 3-point accuracy at 42.9 percent, but coach Tyronn Lue still sees plenty of areas for improvement. A win against Sacramento would give Los Angeles its first three-game winning streak this season.
“We just have to make sure we take advantage of every day, every game, every practice and try to improve,” Lue said.
Sacramento will play the sixth game of seven home games. The Kings haven’t capitalized on the long streak at home, winning just two of the five games so far.
They haven’t been able to protect some big leads either, most recently a 20-point cushion against Portland.
“That’s the NBA,” Kings coach Luke Walton said. “Elite teams find ways to kill them and that’s what we’re building towards. We’re not there yet.”
The Clippers could run out of one of their key reserves against the Kings. Lou Williams did not play in the second half against New Orleans due to hip pain.
Lue wasn’t sure if Williams would play Friday in Sacramento.
“He tried to play,” Lue said. “At halftime, he said he was pretty sore. We didn’t want to take any chances and we put him in the second half. Field Media / Reuters
