Guy Boucher
Registered User
- Oct 22, 2008
- 4,633
- 1,025
In the NBA, mid-range shots are considered 'inefficient'. It's far more efficient to take 3-pt shots, or to shoot at the rim.
But in the playoffs, when teams defend really hard and refs are likely to call fewer fouls at the time, you see great players like Durant and Kawhi feast in the mid-range. Why? Because all of a sudden it becomes a more efficient shot.
The Leafs take some of the fewest point shots of all teams. Why? Because they know that its an inefficient shot. The Leafs are one of the best teams at generating slot shots, but they usually do so by cycling around the perimeter until something opens up.
But every year in the playoffs, they suddenly have trouble creating goals and it seems to be because the cycle is less effective when the opposing team is defending very hard and willing to grab/cross-check around the slot and at the boards.
Suddenly the best way to get the puck to the net is through point shots. But the Leafs don't take them.
And despite the lack of point shots, the only goal the Leafs scored the other night (the Kampf goal) came from a point shot! Watching other teams, it seems like they all lean more into taking points shots in the playoffs but the leafs keep trying to stick to their system and it's just not working.
tldr: Leafs need to take point shots to generate goals in the playoffs.
But in the playoffs, when teams defend really hard and refs are likely to call fewer fouls at the time, you see great players like Durant and Kawhi feast in the mid-range. Why? Because all of a sudden it becomes a more efficient shot.
The Leafs take some of the fewest point shots of all teams. Why? Because they know that its an inefficient shot. The Leafs are one of the best teams at generating slot shots, but they usually do so by cycling around the perimeter until something opens up.
But every year in the playoffs, they suddenly have trouble creating goals and it seems to be because the cycle is less effective when the opposing team is defending very hard and willing to grab/cross-check around the slot and at the boards.
Suddenly the best way to get the puck to the net is through point shots. But the Leafs don't take them.
And despite the lack of point shots, the only goal the Leafs scored the other night (the Kampf goal) came from a point shot! Watching other teams, it seems like they all lean more into taking points shots in the playoffs but the leafs keep trying to stick to their system and it's just not working.
tldr: Leafs need to take point shots to generate goals in the playoffs.
