When the NBA first resorted to it in 1979, I must admit I thought it was a circus rule, the equivalent of asking players to be shot out of cannons or swallow swords, something borrowed from the stepchild ABA with its red, white and blue basketballs.
A 3-point line? The beautiful game of basketball didn't need a clown shot. All I could think of was "The Three Stooges."
Now, I would like to see a 4-point line added 4 feet beyond the 3-point line.
That's how much I've come to love a shot that has rocked the game as if it were shot out of a cannon. This is how much the one-time "silly gimmick" has revolutionized the NBA: The San Antonio Spurs could not have won last season's championship without it.
It was no coincidence the Spurs led the NBA in 3-point shooting last season. In fact, the Spurs led the league in 3-point shooting in three of the four seasons before this one (they were fourth two years ago, before losing to Miami in the Finals ... thanks to the greatest clutch 3 ever, Ray Allen's to force overtime in Game 6). San Antonio's win percentage over those four seasons: first in the NBA, at .740. Second was Miami, which was third in 3-point shooting over that span.
The third point is the charm.
At the All-Star break, Atlanta is first and Golden State second in 3-point shooting. Atlanta leads the East by 6½ games. Golden State leads the West by four. The best teams are now best from 3.
The 3-point line has become basketball's Arc de Triomphe.
Fittingly, the showcase event this All-Star Saturday Night will not be the dunk contest. Give me the 3-point contest featuring many of the game's hottest hands from 3. Defending champ Marco Belinelli of the Spurs takes on Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson, Kyle Korver, James Harden, Kyrie Irving, J.J. Redick and Wesley Matthews. If only this showdown shootout could be the night's grand finale.
Look, I still love beholding some never-before-seen, outer-space jam in the slam dunk contest. I haven't missed a second of a dunk contest since it started in 1984, and I was courtside in 1986 in Dallas the day 5-foot-7 Spud Webb legitimately outdunked his buddy, Dominique "The Human Highlight Film" Wilkins -- one of my personal, top-10 sports moments. But the dunk contest does involve some Olympics-style gymnastics/figure skating judging. Politics can cloud objectivity.
In the 3-point contest, a shot from beyond the maximum distance of 23 feet, 8 inches either goes in or it does not. A contestant either finds an unconscious muscle-memory flow -- leaves Planet Earth and enters The Twilight Zone, finds Never Never Land or goes Somewhere Over the Rainbow -- or he becomes all too aware of the rising pressure and lets it freeze his elbows and wrists.
Now, give me the 3-point contest over the slam dunk contest. Fans are still more awed by a dunk. But most can better relate to long-distance shooting (see fans taking halftime, half-court heaves for cash or cars).
During games, I love a Twitter-rocking dunk as much as the next NBA nut. But now, I'd slightly rather see a crowd-detonating (or crowd-silencing) 3-pointer, either off four or five whip-whip passes or (even better) off a steal and a one-on-two pull-up on a solo fast break. No shot in basketball can be more psychologically devastating. No! Yessss.
The most exciting shot in basketball has become the late deep 3, backspinning into the rafters and descending in seemingly slow motion toward the rim as the crowd and anticipation rise. Steph Curry now posterizes sprawling defenders from 3.
Yet it took the NBA a while to warm up to this shot. In its first season, 1979-80, only 3.1 percent of all shots attempted were 3s. Last year, a record 25.9 percent were 3s. In last year's Finals, a third of the shots taken by the Spurs and Heat were 3s. Even more remarkably, the Spurs made 47 percent of their 3s, and the Heat a mere 40 percent.
The Spurs won in five by a record Finals margin.
The evolution hit home to ESPN analyst Tim Legler when he was asked to do commentary on a replay of Game 6 of the 1987 Celtics-Lakers Finals ahead of the live Game 6 of the 2008 Celtics-Lakers Finals. Legler, by the way, has the third-best single-season 3-point percentage (52.2 in '95-96) and won the 3-point contest that season.
"In '87," Legler said, "they went the entire game without making a 3 (both teams went 0-for-5). Twenty-one years later, they were taking 10 or 12 a quarter!"
The Lakers made 10-of-27, the Celtics 13-of-26. Three's a crowd.
"In '87," Legler said, "it was more about the two front lines, about getting the ball inside, post-ups, cuts."
Strength and length. Some football mixed with the basketball. Athletic power as well as skill. Muscular intimidation. Enforcers were more valuable than 3-point snipers. See the Lakers' Kurt Rambis, occasionally the equivalent of a Hanson Brother hockey goon, who went 0-for-14 from 3 in 14 NBA seasons.
The 3 brought some art back into the science of winning NBA titles. The 3 opened roster spots for guys such as 6-3 Steve Kerr (all-time best career 3-point percentage of 45.4), who wasn't much of a dunker or driver but knew how to play and could stroke a basketball softly through a rim from 24 feet under the greatest pressure. See Game 6 of the '97 Finals.
The 3 began sending some of the tallest guys to the perimeter -- to invert the court. Dirk Nowitzki, Chris Bosh, Kevin Love and even shot-blocker Serge Ibaka now make 3s as if they're free throws.
The 3 made it possible for the "old, slow, boring, unathletic" Spurs to dominate the league. Over the past 15 seasons, coach Gregg Popovich's Spurs morphed from a lockdown, grind-it-out, pound-the-post, defensive eyesore featuring David Robinson and Tim Duncan to an "1812 Overture" of ball-pushing, floor-spreading pass-and-pump. On three-on-two fast breaks, shooters run to the 3-point line instead of the basket.
Duncan became the Old Man and the 3. He didn't shoot many. But his mad bombers opened up a whole new, unpopulated world for him inside. Defenders could no longer pack the paint as they chased shooters from corner to corner.
In order, as the Spurs won their five championships, they were 19th in 3-point shooting in '99, 11th in '03, eighth in '05, third in '07 and first the past season. Seismic shift: 3 > 2.
Legler: "At one point a few years back, Tim Duncan looked like he was done. No one even doubled him anymore. But once he could start kicking the ball out to shooters, the lane opened up, and he was able to score again ... A couple of years ago [6-3] Tony Parker led the league in points in the paint. Doesn't happen without the 3-point line opening up the lane for him to get to the rim. Last year, the Spurs and Heat were the two best passing teams. The passes were so quick, so on a rope, they'd give [3-point] shooters just a half-count more to get the shot off. Makes all the difference."
One of those shooters was the greatest Legler has ever seen: Ray Allen, the all-time leader in 3-point makes and attempts. "He can shoot 'em off screens, off the dribble, in transition, backing up ... all with perfect mechanics every time," he said.
Could the next Ray Allen have easy 4-point range? Legler: "The percentage would drop significantly from 4 more feet. But you see Kevin Durant make 'em from that distance."
Which is why the intrigue and excitement would significantly increase. Rod Thorn, the NBA's president of basketball operations, has acknowledged interest in a 4-point line. Recently, Phil Jackson said he'd like to see one.
Imagine: A 4-point contest on All-Star Saturday Night.
I'm there.