The Knicks Have a New Number: 3 The New York Knicks' final, game-winning shot against the Brooklyn Nets Tuesday night was, appropriately, a Jason Kidd 3-pointer. The Knicks, who lead the Eastern Conference, are averaging 29.4 3-point shots per game, which puts them on pace to shoot more 3-pointers than any team in N.B.A. history. That gaudy statistic might worry fans of the great grind-it-out Knicks of the 1990's, but the reality is that New York's shooting spree is a product of a healthy offense rather than a symptom of a flawed philosophy. The N.B.A. as a whole is moving toward more 3-point shooting. A decade ago, the Dallas Mavericks led the league in 3-point attempts at just over 17 per game. This season, the average N.B.A. team shoots 20. The sea change in offensive structure is a product of rule changes that allow defenses to play zone, making 3-point shooting a necessary element of any offense that hopes to find space for drives to the basket. Another factor has been the incredibly successful coaching philosophy of Mike D'Antoni. The stress that his great Phoenix teams of the last decade placed on opposing defenses by positioning four shooters around a devastating finisher forced teams into a disheartening dilemma: let Amar'e Stoudemire dunk, or watch shooters bomb away for high-value 3-pointers. The two best shots in the N.B.A. are ones that come right at the rim, because they are easiest, and ones that come from behind the arc, because they are worth more. D'Antoni's revolutionary take on team offense allowed his squads to produce as many of those looks as possible. And while Carmelo Anthony receives his share of traditional one-on-one opportunities, the 2012-13 Knicks make evident that Mike Woodson, who was an assistant under D'Antoni last season, cribbed more than a few ideas from D'Antoni's spread pick-and-roll attack. The Knicks' high volume of 3-point shots don't come from desperation heaves at the end of the shot clock or off wild transition attempts. Of the 28 3-pointers they took Tuesday night against Brooklyn, a full 20 of them were basically wide-open shots. That's good news for the Knicks, because outside of Anthony and occasionally J.R. Smith or Raymond Felton, New York doesn't have much in the way of players who can break down the defense single-handedly. Players like Jason Kidd are great at facilitating ball movement and capitalizing on open shots, but they need the defense to be scrambling in order for these talents to matter. That's why, in addition to Anthony's post game, Tyson Chandler's effectiveness as a roll man and offensive rebounder in pick-and-rolls is so important to the Knicks' offense. His aggressive drives to the basket after he sets screens force the defense to send an extra player, usually one guarding a shooter, to defend him and prevent a lob pass from being thrown Chandler's way. And that, in turn, temporarily establishes a Knicks advantage on the perimeter. It's that very advantage that makes Steve Novak so deadly, and allows an ancient set shooter like Kidd to fire off eight open 3-pointers in a single game. One play from Tuesday night that ended in a rare Anthony miss exemplifies the Knicks' commitment to ball movement and spacing. After the Nets neutralized a Felton-Chandler pick-and-roll, the ball found Anthony on the right block, where he was guarded by point guard C.J. Watson. Watson had switched onto Anthony in the scramble to stop Chandler, and now the Nets had to send a second player to prevent Anthony from scoring easily. Anthony quickly passed out of trouble, setting off a chain of passes as the Knicks swung the ball to the left side of the court then back around to the right corner, where Anthony was now wide open because the Nets had raced to the other side of the court to prevent a Steve Novak 3-pointer. The Knicks strung together seven passes without taking a single dribble and in doing so completely compromised the Nets' defense. Anthony will of course be critical to the Knicks' fortunes throughout the regular season and playoffs. However, the clearest sign the New York's offense is clicking won't be swished jumpers from Anthony, but moments when the ball is flying around the perimeter and finding open shooters. An examination of the Knicks' per-game offensive efficiency versus the amount of 3-pointers they try drives home the point. It's no coincidence that the 10 games in which the Knicks jacked up the most 3-pointers include eight of their most efficient performances of the season. Meanwhile, three of the Knicks' five losses came in games that rank in their bottom five for 3-point attempts. The old N.B.A. axiom is that teams "live by the 3 and die by the 3." The point being that teams that win by shooting 3-pointers are, to a degree, getting lucky. But that's not the case with the Knicks. Though they've shot exceptionally well, it might be more accurate to say that their worst games have come when they couldn't get enough 3-point attempts, rather than enough shots that went in the basket. The Knicks' defense must be consistent for a deep run in the playoffs (and it wasn't Tuesday night), but don't discount the power of the 3-point shot. The last two champions, Dallas and Miami, shot more 3-pointers in the playoffs than they did in the regular season. A bounty of shots from deep is hardly a cause for concern with a team like New York. The Knicks don't just live by the 3, they thrive by it.