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Milwaukee Bucks: Brook Lopez in a Slump from 3 this Season

By Paul Bretl

SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA - JANUARY 08: Brook Lopez #11 of the Milwaukee Bucks celebrates after making a three-point shot against the Golden State Warriors during the second half of an NBA basketball game at Chase Center on January 08, 2020 in San Francisco, California. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. (Photo by Thearon W. Henderson/Getty Images)
SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA - JANUARY 08: Brook Lopez #11 of the Milwaukee Bucks celebrates after making a three-point shot against the Golden State Warriors during the second half of an NBA basketball game at Chase Center on January 08, 2020 in San Francisco, California. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. (Photo by Thearon W. Henderson/Getty Images) /
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After a career year from 3 point range in 2018-19 for the Milwaukee Bucks, Brook Lopez has struggled through the first half of this season from deep.

Very few players have evolved over the years with the NBA’s increase in three-point shooting as well as Brook Lopez has. Over his first eight NBA seasons, Lopez would total just 31 three-point attempts and he’d hit only three of them.

However, over the next two years with Brooklyn and the Los Angeles Lakers, his three-point attempts would take a huge leap as Lopez averaged 4.8 per game during that span and he’d make 34.6 percent.

As much as he had improved in that short amount of time, during the 2018-19 season under Mike Budenholzer’s ‘let it fly’ mentality and with the Milwaukee Bucks’ ability to spread the floor with Giannis Antetokounmpo, Lopez attempted a career high 6.3 three point attempts per game and made a career high 36.5 percent of those shots.

Obviously having a big-man shoot that effectively from deep is always going to be a positive but it also helped create more space for Giannis to operate, and as you’d expect, it created mismatches as well, with Lopez away from the hoop.

These were big contributors to the Milwaukee Bucks’ success last year and it also helped Lopez land a four year – $52 million deal to stay in Milwaukee.

Yet coming off of career highs in both attempts and percentage from three, a valid question over the summer was wondering whether we could see Lopez duplicate last season or regress. And unfortunately, it’s been the latter.

In the 43 games that Lopez has played this year, his attempts are down to 4.7 per game and he’s hitting just 29.6 percent of those. By far his lowest percentage since he started consistently shooting threes back in the 2016-17 season.

And at least at the moment, things aren’t getting any better for Brook. Over his last six games, he’s attempted 26 shots from behind the arc and has made only 23.1 percent of them.

The positive for the Milwaukee Bucks in all of this is that they continue to dominate. They currently hold the league’s best record once again, lead in points per game with 119.4, and are fourth in three pointers made. Not to mention that their overall three-point percentage is up from last season.

At this point we may not see Lopez be as efficient as he was last season from deep but even if he can get to his career average of 34 percent on a regular basis, it will really help this Milwaukee Bucks team, especially in the playoffs.

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Last year in the Eastern Conference Finals against Toronto, Lopez was in a slump from three as he made just 31 percent of his attempts in that series. While that clearly wasn’t the only reason that the Bucks lost, it was a factor. And in order for Milwaukee to push through to the NBA Finals and possibly win it this year, having Splash Mountain back in form from deep will go a long ways towards achieving that.

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