Olympian Jimmy Mariano spent his playing years taking long-range bombs back in the days when basketball hasn’t invented the three-point shot yet.
It was only during the 1980 NBA season that the three-point shot was introduced, a league’s adoption of the American Basketball League creation, which was soon popularized by the ABA.
The PBA, Asia’s pioneering professional, followed suit, implementing an extraordinary peculiar three-point configuration and later on revolved into a full arc.
The NBA’s standard three-point line is 23 feet and nine inches, but the PBA started with a shorter distance at 22 feet, which still stands as it is.
Former PBA operations head Rickie Santos in a text message disclosed how the three-point shot shaped up the league.
“When the PBA started to have a 3-point shot, parang World War 2 helmet ang itsura ng 3-point shot line..It was 22 feet, pero wala sa side. Bata pa tayo niyan, I was still in high school,” said Santos, also a long-time sportswriter.
But Santos added that even the NBA decided to follow the PBA’s distance, but shifted back to the original measurement later on.
“Itinuloy na yung 22 feet arc hanggang sa baseline. Hindi natin sinundan yung 3-point distance ng NBA. Sa totoo lang, NBA pa ang gumaya sa atin. Nag 22 feet ang NBA. Pero ibinalik din nila sa 23 feet and nine inches kasi sobrang madali daw sa kanila,” added Santos.
Back then, Mariano had already retired from playing in the PBA, but during his heydays when he was still playing in the old MICAA and representing the Philippine men’s basketball team, including our last national quintet in the 1972 Munich Olympics, the 6-foot-4 lefty gunner had been heaving shots from almost every long-distance area in the basketball court.
But every shot, no matter how far the distance was, is still counted as a two-point shot.
Remember when Jerry West threw a half-court shot to send the game to overtime during one of the LA Lakers’ finals game against the New York Knicks? The shot was still worth two points.
So when the PBA made a decision to adopt a 4-point shot and implement it for the coming season, the league drew mixed reactions.
No question, today’s generation of players are far more talented than those cagers he used to play before, according to Mariano.
“Magagaling mga players these days and dapat ma-improve pa natin depensa kasi baka umabot na sa 5-Pt line yan,” wrote Mariano in jest to Pinoystep.com in an online interview.
Turning serious, Mariano is not a fan of implementing the four-point shot.
“That’s not good for us,” he added. “Because we’re not gaining anything from this.”
Eric Castro, league deputy commissioner, confirmed the ideal distance for the four-point line.
“The PBA three-point arc is 22 feet while the four-point line is 27 feet,” added Castro in a Viber message.
Once the PBA implements the four-point shot, a new demarcation will be put up inside the playing venue, a practice started by the league during last season’s All-Star Game.
Through the years, several players had been taking three-point shots way beyond the distance, some of the more notable ones were Jimmy Alapag, who is now retired and had currently embarked a coaching career in the NBA where he serves as player development coach for the Sacramento Kings, and current NLEX guard Robert Bolick.
