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He has also made a habit out of coming around a screen, and instead of continuing a path toward the paint as DeMar DeRozan might, stepping back behind the arc for a three.

“They’ll run him off some screens,” Phoenix coach Jeff Hornacek said. “He’s very good knowing that if the guy is chasing him, he’s gonna curl and maybe get that quick shot off. Or if you go over the top, he’s going to fade to the side.”

Even beyond somebody as accurate and meticulous as Lowry, the league has become far more liberal with long-range shots. The war on three-pointers is clearly over after the ascendance of the Golden State Warriors. The Raptors and Suns combined to launch 56 three-pointers on Sunday, and they came from all over the floor, in all sorts of situations — off of set plays, in transition and by way of freelance ball movement. Neither coach sounded the least bit perturbed with the nature of the game.

The shots are coming from all sorts of sources, too. If Luis Scola, the master of post footwork, can start shooting from long distance at age 35, it is proof that we are all capable of change. Cory Joseph, who has never attempted more than 1.5 three-pointers per 36 minutes during his career, won Saturday night’s game in Washington with a corner three-pointer at the buzzer. He hit one from the same spot as the Raptors attempted a comeback against Phoenix. He has been working relentlessly on expanding his range. In today’s NBA, you have to.

“They’d rather have that (transition three-pointer) than … a good bank shot from outside the paint. That’s the trend,” Casey said. “We’re all going to it. Sometimes it looks like a crazy three. You want to get as many of those as you can, good quality threes, and layups and get to the free throw line. That’s what we’re trying to do.”

It is what nearly everybody is trying to do. The exceptions are dying off.