Corner Threes Are Secret Sauce For Milwaukee Bucks’ Offensive Success

With 4:30 remaining in Sunday’s nationally televised game between the Milwaukee Bucks and the Phoenix Suns, Milwaukee was trailing by six and in danger of losing their first game in a month. Superman wasn’t coming to the rescue with Giannis Antetokounmpo sidelined with a knee injury.

Milwaukee was grinding offensively and had only put up 88 points on the scoreboard in a little over three and a half quarters. That’s when they peeled back the curtain on a secret that will help catapult their offense into respectable territory and another deep postseason run: Corner threes.

The Bucks mandate the corner as a staple of their offense. Head coach Mike Budenholzer infamously tapes blue squares on the practice court to emphasize which areas he wants his players to fill every time down. It’s evolved a bit over the years, but two of the constants are the corners.

According to Cleaning the Glass, Milwaukee ranks ninth in the NBA in the frequency of corner threes attempted, with about one in 10 shots coming from those spots on the floor. The only issue is they suck at making them, as only four teams have a worse percentage on the season.

This is part of why their offense is slacking, which has seen the fruits of its labor dry up after years of sporting a top-ranked regular season unit. Milwaukee ranks in the middle of the pack in effective field goal percentage and the bottom half in offensive rating.

Back to Sunday’s matchup, with the Bucks trailing 88-94, Brook Lopez set a ball screen for Jrue Holiday at the top of the key, temporarily removing Holiday’s man from the play. This gave Milwaukee a temporary five-on-four advantage as Holiday whipped an overhead pass across the court to Khris Middleton on the left wing.

With Middleton’s defender diving into the paint to take the rolling Lopez, Jae Crowder was vacated in the left corner, as his man sprinted to challenge a potential Middleton three. Only Middleton immediately shoveled the rock to Crowder for a wide-open three. Splash. Three-point game.

The Bucks worked the corner magic again on the very next play. Middleton scooped up a missed Holiday three that seemed to bounce forever before attacking the hoop. This sucked in the Suns’ defense and allowed him to throw a semi-no-look pass to Crowder in the corner for another open three. Yak Yak!

Crowder was brought in for his switchable defense and ability to help the Bucks match up against teams like the Celtics in the postseason. However, he’s also a corner three aficionado, knocking down at least 40 percent of said shots in each of the last three years. He should provide a boost on that spot on the floor.

The Bucks need the corners to space the floor for the world’s best player, Antetokounmpo. Defenses love to build the wall with help defenders and force him to get the ball out of his hands. That defensive strategy works if Milwaukee can’t maximize their shooters and knock down shots—a seemingly annual postseason tradition they’ve participated in under Budenholzer.

One of their go-to sets is an inverted pick-and-roll with Antetokounmpo as the ball-handler, two guys in the corner and one in the weakside dunker spot. In the below example, it’s Pat Connaughton setting the screen, Crowder in the short corner, and Jevon Carter and Grayson Allen out wide.

Antetokounmpo decides to reject the screen and attack the basket on his lonesome. He shrugs off the first defender, forcing Nic Claxton to leave Crowder on the weakside block and meet Antetokounmpo just outside the restricted area. His help forces Seth Curry to abandon Carter in the weakside corner and slide down to prevent an easy dump off for a layup. Antetokounmpo reads all this and shovels the rock to the open shooter for three.

When the Bucks push the pace, two of the very first spots they fill are also the corners. This is for two primary purposes: 1. It maximizes the spacing on the floor, forcing defenses to cover every possible inch, and 2. It has the highest rate of return of any non-dunking spot on the floor.

By now, everyone knows threes are one of basketball’s two most potent shots (shots directly at the rim being the other). But did you know corner threes are made at a three percent higher clip than non-corner threes? According to Cleaning the Glass, the average three-point success rate on corner threes is 38.6 percent compared to 35.6 percent for non-corner threes.

Above is a great example of how they operate in the open court. Crowder has a steal and three running mates on a fastbreak. He dumps the ball off to Middleton to steer the attack, while Bobby Portis and Joe Ingles fill their respective corners. As Middleton engages one of the three Brooklyn Nets’ defenders, he notices a two-on-one advantage to his left. With Crowder filling the left wing and Ingles sliding down to the left corner, Joe Harris is forced to pick his poison. He rightly steps up to Crowder when he receives the first pass, but cannot stop the ball from finding an open Ingles for a spot-up three.

Milwaukee’s offense has struggled all season long. Injuries can be pointed to as one of the primary reasons, and you wouldn’t be wrong. Their shooting is another key cause for concern.

The corner three is a major weapon that can be unleashed on defenses to make them pay for sending extra help to the ball. The Bucks can use it to spread defenses the entire width of the court, and make them think twice before running into the paint to prevent a shot at the rim.

The wins are nice. What’s even nicer is another Larry O’B. Everything the Bucks do now is focused on getting better and setting themselves up for postseason success. The secret to their success might lie in knocking down more threes from the most obscure spot on the court. Corner Magic.