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For Timberwolves, just chucking up 3-pointers isn’t the answer

MINNEAPOLIS — Wednesday’s slate of games showed just how far NBA teams have come to rely on 3-pointers.

Houston fired up an NBA record 70 3-point attempts in an overtime loss to Brooklyn, while Golden State and New Orleans combined to make 43, topping the previous NBA record of 41 set by the Warriors and Sacramento — earlier this month.

The Rockets lead the NBA in 3-point volume, averaging 44 attempts a game. In the 2013-14 season, Houston also led the league with 26.6.

“I think when the game changes, it changes big time,” Minnesota Timberwolves interim coach Ryan Saunders said Thursday, Jan. 17. “Usually, in terms of when something becomes a trend, and it works — as it has for teams like Golden State, teams like Houston — people want to pick up on that.”

Imitation, as Saunders noted, is the most sincere form of flattery. As Houston and Golden State have risen to the top of the Western Conference, other teams have attempted to adopt their formula for success: bombs away.

The Timberwolves, however, have been left behind. They’ve lived in the cellar of 3-point attempts for years, although that’s changing a bit. Minnesota is currently 23rd in 3-point attempts, averaging 28.5 a game.

Saunders seems to be encouraging the Wolves’ evolution. In a recent scrimmage, he gave bonus points for corner 3-pointers — one of the game’s most-efficient shots — and negative points for 2-pointers taken from just inside the 3-point line, the least efficient.

In just Saunders’ third game as coach, a win over New Orleans, the Wolves put up 39 3-pointers, making 11.

“We’re playing the game where now they just want you to shoot them just to show that they have to respect it at some point,” veteran forward Taj Gibson said. “That’s the way our game is going. Every team is doing it now. Even us, we shoot a lot of threes in practice and it’s different. It’s a different style of game.”

Gibson noted that when facing teams like Golden State, flush with shooters such as Klay Thompson, Steph Curry and Kevin Durant, you have to try to keep up with their shooting.

The massive 3-point discrepancy is often pointed out when Minnesota loses. Fans clamor for the Wolves to take more 3-point attempts, and Saunders wants to see that, too — with a disclaimer.

“We want good threes,” Saunders said, “not just threes to take.”

That’s key for Minnesota, which isn’t flush with long-range shooters.

Karl-Anthony Towns is one of the game’s best-shooting big men, and Derrick Rose has discovered his outside shot this season, but when a team’s two starting wings are Josh Okogie and Andrew Wiggins — currently the case with Robert Covington out of the lineup — the long ball is not going to be a strength.

The Wolves are shooting 35.5 percent from deep this season, good for 14th best in the 30-team NBA. That number drops significantly when the Wolves shoot a ton of threes. The Wolves have out up 33 or more 3-pointers nine times this season, and seven times hit less than 30 percent of them.

Saunders said there’s a balance of taking triples while being mindful of your strengths.

“One of the things we talk about as a team is being honest with ourselves,” Saunders said. “I think that’s important as players and just in general. If you’re honest with yourself, you know if you’re a 3-point shooter, in most cases, or you know if you’re a guy who plays around the basket. We’ve addressed that in different ways.”

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