The Dallas Mavericks lost Game 4 of their second-round series against the Oklahoma City Thunder in extremely disappointing fashion on Monday night, but one player who wasn’t to blame for the collapse was PJ Washington.
The fifth-year forward out of Kentucky was sent to Dallas by the Charlotte Hornets at this season’s NBA trade deadline. After an up-and-down close to the regular season, Washington has led the Mavericks in scoring in consecutive games here in the playoffs, even surpassing Luka Doncic and Kyrie Irving. He has scored 29, 27 and 21 points in each of the team’s last three games, respectively, and is in the prime of his life behind the three-point line.
After shooting a career-worst 32% from three during the 2023-24 regular season, Washington has made 42% of its three-pointers during the playoffs. Additionally, in his last five games spanning the series against the Thunder and Los Angeles Clippers, Washington has made 23 of the last 45 three-pointers he has attempted.
He’s been so hot that announcers started calling him “Captain Corner” on broadcasts. Everything he throws at the rim seems to go in.
But don’t let Captain Corner’s nickname fool you. Washington has been hitting from all over the court during this series. During the first four games against OKC, Washington was 8 of 16 on left corner 3-pointers (50%), 5 of 12 on right corner 3-pointers (41.7%), and 6 of 9 on 3-pointers over the break. (66.7%). Add it all up and you’ll see that he’s shooting 51.4% from deep in this series while he’s shooting an impressive 7.4 three-point attempts per game.
According to Stathead, here are every player in NBA history who has had a five-game playoff streak in which they shot over 50% from three while attempting at least 40 three-pointers during said five-game streak:
- Ray Allen
- Desmond Bane
- Stephen Curry
- Donte Di Vincenzo
- Damian Lillard
- kevin love
- Matt Maloney
- David Mitchell
- Jamal Murray
- Michael Porter Jr.
- Terry Rozier
- JR Smith
- Klay Thompson
- Fred Van Vleet
- Antonio Walker
- Derrick Blanco
- PJ Washington
That list of 17 players includes several of the most respected shooters in NBA history and four of the league’s all-time leaders in career 3-pointers made. It’s incredibly difficult to shoot this well at this high volume over a period of time, let alone do it in the middle of a playoff run.
What makes Washington stand out among the 17 players who reached this mark in a five-game span is that he has been nothing more than a mediocre three-point shooter throughout his career. Most of the players listed above are elite snipers, or at least high-volume shooters who still post above-average percentages.
Washington’s career average of 35.4% shooting from three is the second-worst of the entire group, trailing only Antoine Walker, whose poor accuracy from behind the three-point line is notable.
It’s hard for Washington to play much better than it has the last two weeks. The Mavericks traded Seth Curry, Grant Williams and a future first-round pick for him because they needed a big, active body on the defensive end who was simultaneously capable of or provided more of a threat on offense than Williams.
Through 10 playoff games, Washington has provided exactly that, even if his job on offense doesn’t extend beyond “standing behind the arc and shooting 3-pointers when one from Luka or Kyrie passes it to you.”
With the historic heater he’s in now, Dallas doesn’t need much more than that from him. They just need a little more from everyone else on the roster to survive this tight second round series against the OKC Thunder.
