Posted: 2019-05-13 09:20:07 (CT) [ 1067 views ]
We will probably never know the answer to that question, but we can speculate.
Both teams yesterday in Denver had performance issues they would like to forget. Denver, a dominant home team all season, shot three-pointers at a miserable 2 for 19 clip. Portland, a quality team all season long did not fare much better at 4 for 26.
For teams who averaged in the 35% shooting range for three-pointers all season long, 10.5% and 15.4% was totally unexpected. Could it have been predicted? I doubt it. So, is there an explanation?
Just speculating here, but most likely they just over-thought the Air Density issue in shooting. Let's re-capture the scene...
All season long, Denver had been dominant at home. Home for Denver is very light air allowing the basketball to fly a half dozen or so, inches more freely than at sea level. This we know from physics studies.
A team in the NBA typically plays no more than 3 games at home before moving on to other road venues, but by the end of the season they are pretty secure as they shoot in their home court. So, one could imagine that Portland noticed the difference in shooting at sea level vs. Denver by or before the first game of this seven game series. Ditto...Denver.
So after two games at Denver; then, two in Portland and one back in Denver and a game in Portland, both teams knew what to expect in Denver as related to the "shooter's touch." Sounds to me like a recipe for over-thinking the softer touch required in Denver. There were a large number of shots that hit the "front" of the rim, which is opposite what normally happens in the thin air of Denver. Did both teams over-think the issue? Extremely possible.
If so, then the shooters may have been "pulling-the-string," so to speak and just struggled all game long. Congratulations to the Portland Trail Blazers for moving on.
