After years and years, Clippers’ Marreese Speights finds his three-point shooting touch

Marreese Speights attempted 141 three-point shots in 571 games during his first seven NBA seasons, making 43 of them for a 30.5% accuracy rate.

In 44 games in his first season with the Clippers, the 6-foot-10 reserve forward has shot more threes (156) than he did in the previous seven years combined, making 61 of them for a 39.1% accuracy rate.

“I always had a soft touch and would always shoot threes by myself in practice, but I never had the confidence to shoot it in a game because I knew if I missed, I might come out,” Speights said. “That changed at the All-Star break last year.”

Speights said Golden State Coach Steve Kerr “gave me the green light to shoot it,” and shoot Speights did. After making eight of 23 threes in 43 games before the break, he made 16 of 39 threes in 29 games after it.

His confidence grew with extensive off-season work and encouragement from Clippers Coach Doc Rivers, who said Speights “was already on his way to being a three-point shooting big at Golden State, so we’ve just taken advantage of his growth.”

Speights made three of seven three-pointers and scored a season-high 23 points in Monday’s win over Oklahoma City. He’s averaging 10.2 points and 5.0 rebounds in 16.5 minutes, the highest scoring mark of any player averaging less then 20 minutes a game in the NBA.

Having a big man with a long-range shot adds a dimension to the offense the Clippers don’t have with starting center DeAndre Jordan, the dunk-master who has not attempted a three-pointer in nine seasons. Not only can Speights pick-and-roll to the basket, he can pick-and-pop to the three-point arc.

“When Mo mixes up rolling with his jump shot, it puts a lot of pressure on the defense,” Rivers said. “You can see a lot of game plans for him to pop for the three, and then when he rolls, it really messes their defense up. … Everyone is used to guarding fours that can shoot. The league is still catching up to fives who can make threes. That’s the new thing.”

Speights tries to pattern his game after former outside-shooting big men such as Kevin Garnett and Rasheed Wallace, the latter of whom “was one of my favorite guys growing up,” Speights said. “Guys were popping and shooting twos. Why not take a step back and shoot a three?”

It took seven seasons — and support from his coaches — before Speights truly adopted that approach.

“Usually when I was playing, sometimes I’ve had to look over my shoulder and not know when I was going to play again,” Speights said. “But Doc has given me opportunity, and the players have welcomed and helped me on and off the court. It has helped me with a lot of confidence, and that is something I play off of.”

On the mend

Blake Griffin could be back as soon as next week. The power forward, sidelined since right-knee surgery on Dec. 20, underwent stress tests and sprinted at full speed on Thursday and was scheduled to “do some contact work,” according to Rivers, on Friday.

Asked if there was a chance that Griffin, who averaged a team-high 21.2 points and 8.8 rebounds in 26 games, could play on the next road trip to Denver (Saturday), Atlanta (Monday), Philadelphia (Tuesday), Golden State (Jan. 28) and Phoenix (Feb. 1), Rivers said, “Yeah, there is.”

Taking aim

Jamal Crawford’s slump continued when the guard made three of 14 shots and scored seven points in Thursday night’s 104-101 loss to Minnesota. Crawford has scored 29 points for a 4.8 average in his last six games, making 12 of 59 shots (20.3%) and one of 16 three-pointers (6.3%).

But Rivers saw hope in Crawford’s difficult one-handed runner from 14 feet out as the shot clock expired to give the Clippers a 101-98 lead with 1 minute 28 seconds left Thursday night.

“He’s trying to fight his way through it,” Rivers said. “What I did like is he was aggressive. He didn’t make the shots, and I can live with that. He will. You can see him slowly finding his way out of this.”

UP NEXT

AT DENVER

When: 6 p.m. PST, Saturday.

Where: Pepsi Center.

On the air: TV: FS West; Radio: 570, 1330.

Records: Clippers 29-15; Nuggets 17-24.

Record vs. Nuggets: 1-1.

Update: Clippers point guard Raymond Felton, filling in for the injured Chris Paul, had 10 points, eight assists and two steals in Thursday night’s loss to Minnesota. The Nuggets’ two leading scorers, Danilo Gallinari (ankle injury) and Wilson Chandler (personal matter), missed Thursday night’s loss to San Antonio and are questionable for Saturday.

mike.digiovanna@latimes.com

Twitter: @MikeDiGiovanna