Ray Allen is poised to break reigning champ Reggie Miller’s all-time 3-point shot record in tonight’s Lakers vs. Celtics matchup. Allen is just two history-making threes away from passing five-time NBA All-Star Miller’s 2,560 career tally. The current TNT analyst Reggie Miller himself will be front row at the TD Garden to pass the torch and broadcast basketball history in the making during the nationally televised game.
According to Hoopedia, the 3-point rule was first tested in an NCAA game between Columbia and Fordham, and the NBA officially adopted the three-point shot in the 1979–80 season.
The distance from the 3-point arc to the basket varies from 23’ 9” inches to exactly 22’ at its closest point along the sidelines. During the 1994–95, 1995–96, and 1996-97 seasons, the NBA shortened the overall distance of 3-pointers to a uniform 22 feet around the basket. So in Ray Allen’s rookie season of 1996-97, the NBA 3-point arc was 22 feet even from the basket, and the following year it was reverted back to its original distance of 23’9.”
For the sake of some fun statistics, if we go with the past and present distances from the top of the arc:
Ray hit 117 3-point shots (22 footers) his rookie year, so 117 X 22 feet = 2574 feet
This means that when Ray hits the record breaking 2561st 3-pointer of his career, he will have shot approximately 11.5 miles worth of 3-point field goals:
(2444 X 23.75) + (117 X 22.00) = 58,045 feet + 2574 feet = 60619 feet
60619 feet / 5280 feet (1 mile) = 11.5 miles (the “Ray Allen”)
The driving distance from the TD Garden to the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame is 91.8 miles. So the distance from the TD Garden to The Basketball Hall of Fame = 8 “Ray Allens.“
