THE STAT

The Warriors' effective field-goal percentage of 58.5 percent is the highest mark in NBA history.

THE CONTEXT

Not breaking news: The Warriors can shoot.

They're on pace to be just the fourth team in the last 20 years to make more than half their shots. And when you factor in the value of 3-pointers, their shots are more valuable than any of the 1,483 other teams that have played in this league.

If they can keep that mark above 56.34 percent, it will be third straight season in which the Warriors have set the all-time record for effective field-goal percentage.



Through Wednesday's games, five teams - Golden State, Houston, Cleveland, New Orleans and Toronto - have a higher effective field-goal percentage than the 2008-09 Suns, owners of the 10th highest mark in NBA history. If league-wide effective field-goal percentage (52.0 percent) holds up, this would be the third straight season the league has set a new all-time high.

The Warriors, of course, are the cream of the crop. And their shooting is so good, they have the highest mark in offensive efficiency in NBA history (almost 114 points scored per 100 possessions) even though they're one of only four teams that ranks in the bottom 11 in free-throw rate (21st), turnover percentage (25th) and offensive rebounding percentage (20th).



The effective field-goal percentage could certainly regress. But 28 games isn't a small sample size anymore, and 58.5 percent is a higher effective field-goal percentage than the Warriors had in any 28-game stretch last season.

From every area of the floor, the Warriors have shot better than they did last season, seeing their biggest increase from mid-range (between the paint and the 3-point line), where they were already the best shooting team in the league last season.



The Warriors aren't exactly the anti-Rockets, but they don't avoid those mid-range shots nearly as much as Houston does. Klay Thompson ranks eighth in the league with 143 mid-range attempts, and Curry (55 percent), Thompson (50 percent) and Kevin Durant (50 percent) are three of only nine players who have shot 50 percent or better on at least 50.

The Warriors have been depending on their jumpers a little more than they have in the past. This season, 58 percent of their shots, the third highest rate in the league (and up from 56 percent last season), have come from outside the paint.

For the Warriors and for a league as a whole, shots in the paint are worth more than shots from outside the paint. The champs are one of nine teams that have taken less than 30 percent of their shots from the restricted area, the area of the floor that yields the most points per attempt (1.3).

Along with fewer shots in the paint have come fewer trips to the free throw line. Even though they're playing at a faster pace than last season and shooting better from the line, the Warriors have scored 1.1 fewer points per game on free throws.

Still, the shooting. It was great before and it's better now. And you can make up for other deficiencies by putting the ball in the basket more effectively than any team in NBA history.

Curry and Durant actually have seen a drop in effective field goal percentage from last season. So have Andre Iguodala, Shaun Livingston and JaVale McGee.

But Klay Thompson and Draymond Green have seen increases. Nick Young and Omri Casspi have shot better than the guys they replaced. And David West, in his 15th season, has been the second most improved shooter in the league, seeing his effective field-goal percentage jump from 54 percent to 68 percent, having shot 83 percent in the restricted area and 62 percent from mid-range.



Iguodala (-8.8 percent) and Livingston (-5.8 percent) are both in the bottom 11 of that list, and are the only Warriors (of the 15 that have played this season) with effective field-goal percentages below the league average.

But it's all about the three perimeter players who have taken more than half (53 percent) of the Warriors' shots. Among the 31 players who have attempted at least 400 shots this season, Thompson, Durant and Curry rank second, third and fourth in effective field-goal percentage, with only LeBron James ahead of them.

Shooting is the most important thing in basketball. The Warriors do it more effectively than any other team in history, and that remains the most critical aspect of their quest to win their third championship in the last four years.