5 reasons LA Clippers can win 2021 NBA championship

3. They’re elite from 3-point range

The modern game dictates teams have to be able to shoot the 3-ball. The Clippers can do that better than anyone right now.

As the 2020-21 regular season comes to a close, Los Angeles has a 3-point percentage of 41.5 percent. That’s more 2.5 percentage points higher than the next-best team in the league.

It’s not like the Clippers are living and dying by the 3 either. They’re smack dab in the middle of the NBA in terms of 3-point attempts. They’re taking the shots that are there and making them at a ridiculously efficient clip.

Paul George, Reggie Jackson, Nicolas Batum, Patrick Beverly, Marcus Morris, Luke Kennard and Terance Mann are all up above 40 percent this season. Morris, Kennard and Jackson rank among the 12 most efficient 3-point shooters in the NBA.

For comparison, the Clippers shot 37.1 percent from distance in the regular season last year. That percentage dipped just slightly in the playoffs, but not by that much. George and Jackson were the only key players who shot better than 40 percent.

This year, they’re getting it done all over the court — particularly from the corners, where they’ve shot an absurd 46.3 percent, taking an average of 10.3 corner 3s per game.

Effective and efficient 3-point shooting will make the Clippers incredibly dangerous in the playoffs. They just have to stay hot when it counts.