Allen is making 3s again, and it has changed his offensive approach, allowing Kennard and Tatum more room to be more effective drivers and, in Kennard's case, operate even more freely in midrange.
Season per game shooting averages through the NC State disaster:
2.3-4.7 2pt (50%)
2.0-6.3 3pt (32%)
4.4-5.6 FT (79%)
5 games since then, against what I think was a more difficult defensive schedule on average, since it doesn't include any of the pre-ACC cupcakes (though Wake and Pitt have soft ACC defenses):
1.2-3.2 2pt (38%)
4.4-9.6 3pt (46%)
3.2-3.4 FT (94%)
For most of the season, those stats look like a chucker's stats - someone we would hate on Duke if we didn't know he had it in him to be much better and much different as an offensive player. Now he's struggling from inside the arc but on much less volume. Seems like he has settled into a more Curry-like approach, and he's putting up Curry-like shooting numbers from 3 and from the line.
Duke can win with a Curry in this spot. Tatum should find more room to do the things he does well on offense (getting to the rim and getting fouled). Kennard is seemingly going to be great no matter who is around him. Jackson and Jones should have even less defensive attention on them, if that's possible. Jones is up to 40% 3pt over his last 11 games, after starting 30% over the first 14.
For whatever reason, this isn't translating to better overall offense. The final piece is probably Jefferson, since he is being forced to play a lot of minutes regardless of performance by him or other bigs on the roster.
In the 16 games before Jefferson's injury, Jefferson put up these per game averages:
30 minutes
5.2-8.3 2pt (63%)
3.3-5.4 FT (60%)
10.1 rebounds
1.9 turnovers
2.1 fouls
Since being rushed back from injury for the Miami game, Jefferson has put up these per game averages (last 7 games):
30 minutes
2.4-5.3 2pt (46%)
1.3-2.3 FT (53%)
6.9 rebounds
0.9 turnovers
3.0 fouls
These are crude stats, but it definitely looks like Jefferson has been much less efficient despite much less usage and has been much weaker on the boards since coming back from injury. Some of that is due to a tougher schedule on average, but this is a drastic dropoff in 2pt shooting and rebounding despite carrying a smaller load for the team. The drop in turnovers is nice, but this is the kind of decrease you would expect when getting the ball so much less. He's fouling more in defense, and I have no stats to back it up, but he has looked a lot worse defensively since the injury as well.
So this post should have gone in the Jefferson thread, because now that Allen has found his happy place as a player and Jones is hitting wide open 3s again, the last piece of the offensive puzzle is Jefferson. This is assuming the coaches have no plans to reduce his minutes, rest him for a few games in an attempt to heal him, or play 1st round draft picks in his place no matter how much they're improving.