Houston Rockets guard Garrison Mathews is quickly establishing himself as one of the NBA’s best 3-point shooters, particularly from extreme range, and others around the league are starting to notice.
That includes critics, as well. After practice Sunday, Mathews defended himself against The Athletic’s senior NBA columnist John Hollinger, who suggested that Mathews (and/or others trying to imitate him) could use an exaggerated shooting motion on 3-pointers for the potential purpose of drawing “landing space” fouls as flagrants.
As part of his commentary, Hollinger tweeted a video clip involving Mathews and Golden State’s Andrew Wiggins, who had a defensive foul upgraded to a Flagrant 1 during Friday’s game after not allowing proper landing space to the shooter on a deep 3-point attempt.
League needs to have a convo about what to do with the extreme forward leaps on Garrison Mathews 3s before it spawns imitators. This was called a flagrant and Rockets got a 7-point play on this possession … c'mon man. This isn't what landing zone rule was enacted to prevent. pic.twitter.com/Qjc6MwGpUU
— John Hollinger (@johnhollinger) January 23, 2022
“I saw some tweet today about somebody getting upset about how far I jump forward on my shot,” Mathews responded from Toyota Center. “That’s how I shot my whole life. If somebody goes out there and shoots a 30-footer, they’re going to jump forward. It’s hard to get it there. I don’t change the way I shoot. I definitely don’t try to jump into people or jump forward like that. It’s the way it comes out, I guess.”
Mathews went on to say that no one has ever tried to change his form because he has always been a decent shooter. He is currently shooting 37.7% on 3-pointers, second on the Rockets behind Eric Gordon, and that clip is even more impressive when considering how far behind the 3-point arc that many of his shots are released from. As a result, Mathews often uses power from his legs to get the ball to the basket.
Rockets guard Garrison Mathews answers the critics about his shooting form:
“This is the way I have shot my whole life.”#Rockets #LightTheFuse #Sarge pic.twitter.com/t8qZUfGtOA— BIG SARGE MEDIA LLC (@BigSargeSportz) January 23, 2022
