Tonight – in Boston against the Los Angeles Lakers - Ray Allen stands to become the new record holder in career three-point field goals made.

At 35 years of age, Allen will be passing Reggie Miller’s mark of 2,560 triples.  We always knew that Reggie Miller was a great shooter.  He started out as a shooter at UCLA, and ended his NBA career as a Hall-of-Fame shooter for Indiana.  Throughout his journey, Miller didn’t nothing other than shoot.  He only put the ball on the deck when he was forced to do so.

Allen’s story has been written a little differently, however.  Although Ray has always been a good shooter, he was much more of a slasher during his UConn and early NBA days.  Even so, Allen was never shy about tossing up the triples and in his rookie season launched 298 three-point attempts.  Other the years, Allen’s hard work in perfecting his form has been well-documented and he’s become universally regarded as the game’s best shooter.

In some ways, many will argue that Allen’s record is more a sign of the times.  To illustrate this point, let’s look closer at the best shooters in each of the past three decades – Larry Bird, Miller and Allen:

Bird could do everything on the court, inclusive of knocking down clutch shots from deep.

Bird – Out of 17,334 career FG attempts, Larry Legend only had 1727 three-point attempts.  So, only 10% of Bird attempted shots came from behind the arc.  And it’s absurdly shocking to discover that Bird was only a 37.6% three point shooter in his career.  But Bird, who was known for his shooting, was clearly one of the most well-rounded players in the history of the league – averaging 10.0 rebounds and 6.3 assists per game over the course of his career.

Miller – 6,486 of Miller’s 17,499 shots were beyond the three-point line (37%).  Miller had the ugliest shot, but found a way to drain 39.5% of his three-point shots.

Allen - Ray-Ray has thrown up 6,425 threes, which have accounted for 38% of his total field goal tries (16,933).  Allen has been slightly more accurate than Miller, canning 39.8% of his triples.  But if we dig deeper into Allen’s numbers, it can be seen that he attempted 653 threes in one season, and 1,209 in two seasons.  In fact, Allen’s 269 three-point makes in the 2005-06 NBA season as more than Bird ever attempted in any given season.

Even more intriguing is the increased three-point activity that is exhibited throughout the decades.  Although Miller did achieve a staggering number of three-pointers made, 523 (roughly 20%) of them came after the age of 35.  And Allen certainly appears to be in good enough shape go last another couple of years if he so chooses.

Since its establishment into the NBA in 1979, the three-point shot has certainly become an increasingly integral part of team strategy.  Clearly, the debate may rage on with regards to who holds the title as the best shooter of all time.

Bird was not just one of the game’s greatest shooters, but also one of the game’s all-time greatest players.  Miller – AKA the Knick-killer – lived to take – and make – the biggest shots on the biggest stages.  And Allen continues to demonstrate picture-perfect form on every shot that he releases.  

But in the end, it doesn’t really matter.  I’d let any one of these guys take my game-winning shot.  And you can bet that they’d nail it.

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