Three Is The Magic Number

Landing a three-point shot is a skill that takes a lot of practice and a lot of natural ability, and an adept three-point shooter can be worth a great deal to a basketball team. It carries an element of risk – and this is why it is best left to the ones who have mastered the skill – but a good three-point shot can turn a game.

The niceties of the three point shot are as follows: In basketball there is an area underneath the basket from which shots are easier to make than others – this area is called the key. Outside that area runs an arc, a semi circle from which shots are worth the same as all shots inside the key – two points. Outside the semi-circle, anywhere else on the court, a successful shot earns you three points.

Obviously, the further you are from the net, the harder it is to shoot accurately. Some players, whose talents are most in evidence inside the key, might never try a single three-point shot all season. There are others who practise three-point shooting, and who are usually the ones that team-mates will try to give the ball with time running out and a deficit of around ten points.

Some of the most amazing three-point shots are complete luck, stabs in the dark from a team who have the ball deep in their half of the court with time running out. Under normal circumstances, you would prefer to be standing on the very edge of the three-point line to give yourself the best chance of hitting it – but that is not always possible.