It’s a great time to be a high-scoring sixth man turned starter, which in this case means it’s great to be LA Clippers guard Lou Williams.
Williams is averaging 31.2 points in his past 13 games dating to Dec. 22, the most in the NBA for anyone who has played at least eight games in that span. He is averaging 23.3 points this season, his first with the Clippers, who are 11-4 when he scores more than 25 points in a game. You can watch him Wednesday at 10:30 p.m. ET against the Nuggets on ESPN.
How is he doing it?
Basically, Williams has turned into Stephen Curry.
Williams is shooting better from 3-point range than he ever has before. He’s hitting at 42 percent from beyond the arc for the season, 46 percent in his past 13 games.
Per Second Spectrum, Williams is 30-of-60 this season on “straight-on” 3-pointers. The only players in the NBA who have taken at least 50 such tracked shots at a higher percentage are Curry and LeBron James (both at 54 percent). Williams’ 50 percent success rate is up from 42 percent last season.
Williams has also increased his percentage on left-wing 3-pointers from 32 percent last season to 42 percent in 2017-18. And that’s notable because his 127 left-wing 3-point attempts are by far the most in the league.
The other thing Williams has going for him is that he’s a 91 percent free throw shooter (1 percentage point below Curry). He has gotten to the line a lot recently. Since the new year began, Williams has had a 15-of-15 game against the Grizzlies and a 10-of-10 outing against the Warriors.
The latter came in Williams’ 50-point game on Jan. 10, the first 50-point game by a Clippers player since Charles Smith in December 1990. Williams scored 27 points in the third quarter, the most in a quarter in franchise history.
The Clippers' turnaround
Williams’ recent success has coincided with the Clippers’ turnaround. The Clippers started the season 11-18 but have since gone 11-3, including two wins over the Rockets and a road win over the Warriors.
They’re averaging 121 points per game during a four-game winning streak and an NBA-best 116 points over this 14-game hot streak.