Zaza Pachulia thought this might be the year. He is 33 years old, has played 14 NBA seasons, grabbed 5,274 rebounds, 2K MT Coins set thousands of hard screens and irritated Kevin Garnett (among many others) dozens of times. But the one thing missing on his career resume: a 3-pointer.When Pachulia entered the league, the average team was making 5.2 3-pointers per game. This past year that nearly doubled to 9.7. His team, the Warriors, made 12.0 per game.

But Pachulia? In 14 years, including the playoffs, he is 0 of 28 from the 3-point arc. Last summer, when he signed with this sweet-shooting Golden State bunch, you had to think that was going to change. "Thought the same thing, too," Pachulia told Sporting News in an interview. "But I am still searching, my man, still searching. These guys are not doing a good enough job teaching me to shoot a 3-pointer. I still need some time, one year wasn't enough."Sigh.Pachulia did think he was going to make one, in a blowout win over Portland in the first round of the playoffs. Most of those 28 attempts, he said, were end-of-quarter heaves.

But against the Blazers, he was open. "That was a legit one," he said. "I shot it and, well, the bad thing is it didn't go in. The good thing is it hit the rim. I hit the rim."No matter. Pachulia is hunting bigger game these days, making the first trip of his career to the conference finals. He is the fifth guy in the Warriors' starting lineup, the center, easily overshadowed by the starpower of Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson, Draymond Green and Kevin Durant.

But he has filled his role for the Warriors well, working as a defender, a screener and a rebounder.Pachulia averaged 6.1 points and 5.9 rebounds this season, playing 18.1 minutes per game for a team that pioneered successful small cheap nba 2K18 MT lineups. The Warriors won 67 games, easily the best in the league, and as he now sits in the Bay Area waiting for the start of the West finals, it sure looks like everything's turning up Zaza.