Had it happened in this era, somebody would have been watching multiple games on television monitors. The game would have been stopped and the ball shipped to the Hall of Fame in Springfield, Mass.But that was hardly the case on Oct. 12, 1979. Early in the first quarter of a game against Houston at the Boston Garden in the regular-season opener, Celtics guard Chris Ford drilled a straightaway three-pointer.
Later that month, Ford heard from a Celtics public relations official.
"More than a week after the game, I discovered that I had hit the first three (in NBA history),'' Ford recalled. "I guess it took them that long to line up all the plays of all the games (that night). I was definitely surprised when I heard that.''
Just as Ron Bloomberg of the New York Yankees had done six years earlier by becoming baseball's first designated hitter, Ford turned into the answer to a trivia question. It was 30 years ago Monday he became the first NBA player to drill a three-pointer.
"It was Bird's first game as a rookie, and that was what all the headlines were,'' said Ford, a solid NBA guard from 1972-82 who is now a Philadelphia scout. "The Garden was hopping that night. It was early in the first quarter where I hit a shot from straight on. The shot clock was winding down, and I had an open look. I knew it was behind the line, but had no idea it was the first one.''
That wasn't determined for a while since nine NBA games were played that night. Four others were in the Eastern Time Zone, starting around the time of the 7:30 p.m. tip at Boston Garden.
Ford went on to be an NBA head coach for 10 seasons, including five years with the Celtics, two coaching Bird. But he might go down known primarily in history for hitting that initial three.
"It's a nice piece of trivia,'' Ford said. "It's why I'm talking to (the media) now. It's nice to be mentioned.''
The three-point shot had grown out of the ABA, which was in business from 1967-76. Before that, the American Basketball League, which played its only full season in 1961-62 and whose champion Cleveland Pipers were owned by none other than George Steinbrenner, was the first league to use the three-pointer.
When the NBA played its first night with a three-pointer, two players at Boston Garden had made threes in the ABA. They were Boston guard Don Chaney, who made one with the Spirits of St. Louis in 1975-76, and Houston forward Rick Barry, who had hit 103 in four ABA seasons.
"I remember when they finally ended up putting the three-pointer in the NBA my final season,'' said Barry, who retired after that 1979-80 campaign and seven years later was in the Hall of Fame. "But I don't really remember that first one.''
Barry no doubt would remember had he been the first. The only other three-pointer during that game came courtesy of Barry, who went 1-of-3.
The Rockets had much less success on that first night from beyond the arc, going 1-for-10. The Celtics were 1-of-3, with Ford making his only attempt.
"Nobody ever really thought about the three-pointer back then like they do today,'' said Barry, whose Rockets that season eventually stopped firing away at will.
Rise of the 3-Pointer: "Along with the rise of the three-pointer as a weapon, there has been a general increase in the efficiency of the tool. The leaguewide shooting percentage on threes last season (36.7%) equaled the previous high: 1996, one of those's short-arc seasons."
-- More from Tom ZillerIn 1979-80, three-pointers comprised just 3.1 percent of total NBA field-goal attempts. Last season, teams fired away at a 22.4-percent clip.
"I thought it was good for the game and it changed the game,'' Barry said. "But that shot has been abused. Guys who have no business shooting it are shooting it. If used judiciously, it can be a great weapon.''
While in the ABA, Barry admits he wasn't much of a three-pointer marksman. The stats don't disagree considering he shot 27.7 percent.
But Barry became a bit of a three-point specialist during his final NBA season, when he turned 36. He hit 73-of-221 for 33 percent while attempting and making the second-most in the league. Leading the NBA with 239 attempts and 90 made was San Diego's Brian Taylor, a former ABA bomber.
Ford, then 31, also that season became somewhat of a specialist. He shot 70-of-164, his three-point percentage of 42.7 trailing only appropriately-named Seattle guard Freddie "Downtown'' Brown's 44.3 for best in the NBA.
Finishing third that season at 40.6 percent was Bird, who went 0-of-1 from three-point range while scoring a modest 14 points in his first game, but finished the season a stellar 58-of-143 from beyond the arc.
"I think it certainly strategy-wise has changed the game, and the fans love it,'' Ford said of the 30 years of the NBA having the three-pointer. "The bad thing about it is kids start shooting it at too early of an age, and we've lost the mid-range jumper. It's been somewhat lost in the NBA that (Detroit's) Rip Hamilton makes a living off the mid-range shot. It's either dunks or three-point shots that make the highlights.''
What about four-point shots? Nine days after Ford became the Charles Lindbergh of the NBA, Chicago guard Sam Smith became the first NBA player to make a three-pointer, get fouled, and convert the free throw.
The only Sam Smith most Bulls fans know now is the longtime Chicago sports writer. But former Bulls star Reggie Theus, now a Minnesota assistant, remembers well how "Sudden Sam,'' his former UNLV teammate, drilled the first four-pointer in a 113-111 loss to Milwaukee on Oct. 21, 1979.
"(Then Bulls coach) Jerry Sloan didn't know him, and we needed a three-pointer,'' Theus said of the heroics by Smith, who would play just 46 NBA games over two seasons and fade into obscurity. "I just told him, 'Coach, don't call anything. Just let Sam cross halfcourt and shoot it because he's got in-the-gym range.' It didn't matter how far out he was. He went up, got fouled, and it was a four-point play.''
One would think Smith didn't have to wait more than a week to learn he hit the first four-pointer. Then again, Ford's first three-pointer has had far more staying power when it comes to NBA notoriety.
Chris Tomasson can be reached at tomasson@fanhouse.com.
