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Bojan Bogdanovic found his comfort zone with the Indiana Pacers

By Ben Gibson

NEW YORK, NY - NOVEMBER 5: Bojan Bogdanovic #44 of the Indiana Pacers goes to the basket against the New York Knicks on November 5, 2017 at Madison Square Garden in New York City, New York. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. Mandatory Copyright Notice: Copyright 2017 NBAE (Photo by Nathaniel S. Butler/NBAE via Getty Images)
NEW YORK, NY - NOVEMBER 5: Bojan Bogdanovic #44 of the Indiana Pacers goes to the basket against the New York Knicks on November 5, 2017 at Madison Square Garden in New York City, New York. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. Mandatory Copyright Notice: Copyright 2017 NBAE (Photo by Nathaniel S. Butler/NBAE via Getty Images) /
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After muddling through the start of the season, Bojan Bogdanovic is the shooter the Indiana Pacers hoped he would be.

Bojan Bogdanovic’s season started off poorly as the man known for his shooting was a very disappointing 3 of 15 from deep through five games. That isn’t as big of an issue for some players, but when your defense is as penetrable as Bojan’s, shooting is your meal ticket.

Five games into the season were much too early to panic — or get hyped up — but that doesn’t mean thoughts won’t creep in. It wasn’t likely that Bogdanovic had lost his touch forever, but the question becomes when will it return?

Turns out, it arrived just in time to lift Indiana to a 3-game win streak and he continues to drop shots in from deep in the Pacers’ last two losses.

After starting the season off shooting 20%, Bojan is shooting an impressive 52% from 3-point range in the last five games. And that’s on 5 attempts a game so it isn’t a surprise that he’s averaging 15.6 points a game in that stretch.

It helps that Bojan is working the corner 3’s better in the last five games. He started off the season only taking 2 of his 15 attempts from there but now nearly a third of his attempts are from the short part of the arc.

Playing smarter helps, but sometimes shooters go cold. Bojan got comfortable and his shots began to fall. Part of finding his comfort zone that included transition buckets. He found 13 of his points on the run in the Pacers win over the San Antonio Spurs, including his very first bucket.

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After stepping out-of-the-way of the defender and seeing his shot go down, Bogdanovic’s shooting reflects his history and not those first few games with the Pacers. And perhaps more importantly than his field goal percentage, Bojan was no longer an outlier in the starter’s plus-minus stats. As Will Furr might say, he was no longer actively harmful.

We probably can calm down about Bojan — or any shooter — losing their touch unless they go a whole month with ugly stat lines. Another pet peeve on mine is when we obsess over individual games and not the larger body of work. When someone takes five 3-pointers a game it is easy to overanalyze whether it was a good or bad night. Make two of those attempts and you’re a knockdown shooter at 40%. Only make one and your 30% clip makes us question if you should even shoot from deep.

Next: Thaddeus Young holds the Indiana Pacers together

Bojan Bogdanovic’s season shouldn’t be judged on whether his shooting is on or off on a given night, or even small stretches. If he shots the ball well then we’ll see him pushing 40% on 3-pointers. As long as he keeps running and gunning he’ll find himself at home and in his comfort zone with the Indiana Pacers.

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