Rowan Kavner

INDIANAPOLIS - Acrobatic dunks make the Clippers fun to watch, but it’s the shots much farther from the rim determining outcomes.

The Clippers’ 10.4 3-pointers made per game rank second in the league, and their 208 3-pointers through 20 games are the most ever through this point of a season in franchise history.

Their success rate behind the arc has played a vital role in determining whether or not they win. They’ve hit at least nine 3-pointers 14 times in their 20 games this season and are 13-1 in such games. Meanwhile, they’re 2-4 when hitting eight threes or fewer.

But they’re not just chucking up a barrage of 3-point shots and hoping a few go in. The only team with more made 3-pointers than the Clippers are the Rockets, who average 12 per game but also attempt 6.9 more per game than the Clippers.

No team in the league is shooting better from deep than the Clippers, who are hitting 38.5 percent from 3-point range. The Clippers’ 3-point totals through 20 games have gone up each of the past five seasons. But the jump from 161 3-pointers through 20 games last season to 208 this year marks the most significant rise during that time.

Despite the hit rate from deep, head coach Doc Rivers said that’s not something he’s harped on or tried to emphasize.

“I don’t ever emphasize threes,” Rivers said. “I just think if you’re moving the ball, the ball will find the shooter. Our guys understand who can shoot, and they try to get them shots. That’s really nice. You see it, you don’t have to emphasize it.”

Surprisingly, the Clippers don’t have anyone in the top 10 in the league in 3-pointers made per game. They do, however, have two in the top 15 in Jamal Crawford and J.J. Redick. They’re hitting 2.3 and 2.2 per game, respectively.

“We know Jamal’s a 3-point shooter and J.J.’s a 3-point shooter,” Rivers said. “Matt (Barnes) makes threes. And they’re getting open threes. They’re not forcing shots. We’ve just got to keep playing that way. Unselfish ball helps.”

The barrage of 3-pointers hasn’t always been that successful.

At the beginning of the season, back on Nov. 13 about a month ago, the Clippers found themselves in the top third of the league in 3-pointers attempted and the bottom third in percentage.

Prior to the seven-game road trip, in which they won a franchise-record six games, the Clippers were coming off a home loss to the Bulls in which they hit just seven 3-pointers and shot 30.4 percent from deep.

Since hitting the road for that trip, the Clippers have won 10 of 11 games. They hit at least nine 3-pointers in each of those 10 wins, even if it took overtime to do so Monday against the Suns. The one game they lost in that stretch to Memphis, they hit only seven 3s and shot 28 percent from deep.

A lot of the success from deep has to do with Redick’s turnaround, but most of it, according to Rivers, has to do with ball movement. The Clippers have at least 27 assists in each of their last four games. The highest-assisting team in the league, Golden State, averaged 26.

The recent stretch of better ball movement has brought the Clippers into the top five in the league with 24.7 assists per game. The Clippers have been finding their shooters early and often, and when Redick’s hitting in the first quarter as he has been, that opens everything up for Blake Griffin, Chris Paul and DeAndre Jordan the rest of the way.

“I just know if you move the ball, then offensively, you’re going to score,” Rivers said. “You have to defend as well, but I think we’re just so good when we move the ball. It makes it so hard to guard guys. It makes J.J. and Jamal lethal weapons, and then you think back, you have to now guard CP and Blake 1-on-1. That’s what we’re trying to do.”