Domantas Sabonis is so good this year. No one’s talking about him, because a.) he’s white and b.) he plays for the Pacers, and there are a bunch of other reasons, but he’s a huge reason why the Pacers are where they are this year. Win Shares aren’t the end-all be-all of stats, but it at least says something when a player is leading the league in WS per 48. And you know how hard it is to maintain 68 percent field goal shooting? The only players who are that efficient are the dunk-only types. Sabonis likes to dunk, but he also likes to do other things.
Before tonight, shooting threes wasn’t one of them. Only 2 attempts on the season before tonight’s 2-for-2 explosion. Really early in his career, three were the way he made himself useful on the court, but now, since his usefulness has expanded to most other areas of the game, he’s mostly done away with them.
Evidence of his increased usefulness: he almost got a triple-double tonight. 1 rebound and 1 assist shy, to go with his 7 of 9 shooting in a blowout win against a great (at least, they used to be great) defensive team. Arvydas would be proud.