Three-for-all

 Quietly, sort of, the Milwaukee Bucks won the NBA's in-season tournament last night, beating the Oklahoma City Thunder 97-81 in the NBA Cup finale. This was remarkable for three reasons, at least one of which might have something to do with why it happened quietly.

One, the Bucks are now just 14-11 on the season after a horrendous start. Two, the Thunder -- who might in fact be the best team in the league so far -- are now 20-5.

Three, the Bucks won by 16 despite the fact only half their shots were 3-point attempts.

Chucked it 81 times, 41 of them from inside the arc. The remaining 40 tries were from Threeville.

"Wait a minute, Mr. Blob," you're saying now. "You're saying 40 three-balls qualifies as 'only'?"

The Blob's response: You haven't been watching the NBA much lately, have you?

Forty three-balls, in today's NBA, is pedestrian. Even more pedestrian are the paltry 32 attempts the Thunder hoisted -- which is probably just as well, because Oke City only made five of them. Five-for-32. You could blindfold an 8-year-old, spin him around five times and he'd likely shoot better than that.

But enough about alleged professionals who can't stick the jumper.

The real issue, one NBA commissioner Adam Silver is just now getting around to addressing, is not about the "5" part in the aforementioned stat, but the "32." Which is to say, when 32 three-balls is considered ordinary, you've got a product that's become far less interesting than it should be.

What you've got is a product leaning perilously toward monotony: The drive, the kick, the three. Or, the drive, the kick, the miss, the putback. Or, the drive, the no-kick, the take-it-to-the-tin-and-either-dunk-it-or-miss-the-layup.

Rinse. Repeat. 

This is the modern NBA, and more and more people, apparently, are finding it repetitive and boring. In the modern NBA, with few exceptions, post play is an archeological study. The mid-range jumper, unless it's off the break, increasingly is becoming one. 

(This is not to say the Blob totally agrees with the prevailing sentiment. Personally, I like the more free-flowing game the league plays now. That's because I'm old enough to remember the NBA of the Bad Boys and the Pat Riley Knicks, and I don't remember it fondly. It was ugly basketball, all clutch-and-grab and the big fellas mud-wrestling on the low blocks. Occasionally, to keep us from nodding off, Michael Jordan would fly through the air with the greatest of ease.)

Where was I again?

Oh, yeah. Today's NBA.

It's become such an arc-centric three-for-all,the NBA's defending champs, the Boston Celtics, are threatening to shatter the league record for most 3-point attempts in a season. The Celtics are averaging a shade more than 51 tries per game. Averaging. That's 19 more attempts than the Thunder got up last night in one game.

This was never the intent when the dear departed ABA introduced the 3-pointer to what was then a plodding, fusty pro buckets landscape. Initially, it was called a "home-run ball", because, like a home run, it wasn't supposed to happen that often. Conceptually, it was a novelty intended to keep a potential blowout close, or to close it out.

Note the use of the word "novelty."

Some numbers: In 1970-71, to randomly pick a season, the champion Utah Stars led the ABA with 613 3-point attempts. That works out to 7.5 per game. The league as a whole averaged 6.1; the Indiana Pacers, even with sharpshooter Billy Keller in the lineup, averaged a measly 4.9.

Now here come the Celtics, jacking 51 per. Almost makes you wish for the old mu-wrestling days.

OK. So not really.