by Micah Hart
The Celtics beat the Heat for the second time this season, this time with a 112-107 victory on Miami’s home court. There are many other places on the webernets where you can read about What This Game Means, but I want to focus today on the hero of last night’s win, Ray Allen, who hit his first seven 3′s on the way to a team-high 35 points.
Allen is most definitely on the downslope of his terrific career, and while I feel certain he’ll eventually be a Hall of Famer, the consensus around the office this morning is that it probably won’t happen on the first ballot, and that makes me kind of sad (even though it really doesn’t mean anything), because Ray is the finest shooter these eyes have ever seen.
Allen’s performance last night was vintage. It was at once remarkable and ordinary. Remarkable because it takes an amazing amount of talent and dedication to reach his level of success as a shooter, and ordinary because making seven 3′s is just what Ray does — it was the 22nd time he’s done it in his career.
It also made me feel old. I literally said to myself last night as he continued to pour in jumpers, “They really don’t make them like him anymore.”
Who is Allen’s heir when he retires in the not-too-distant future? What NBA player has worked on their jumper to the fanatical extreme the way Ray has, to the point where he only needs thismuchroom to get off a picture perfect shot no matter where he is on the court or which way his body is leaning. The only person I can think of is Stephen Curry, but that has more to do with aesthetics than game, as I assume he’ll remain as much a facilitator as scorer deep into his NBA career.
Allen doesn’t have a ton of time left, and when he leaves, I don’t think people will notice his absence as much as they should. But when he does, it will always be nice to look back on nights like last night and marvel at the artistry, and remember that as easy as he made it look, he worked pretty hard to make it so.
UPDATE: Courtesy of a check of Basketballreference.com, Allen’s 22 games with seven 3-pointers is by far the most in NBA history (keeping in mind, of course, that the 3-point line wasn’t installed until 1979). Reggie Miller had 13, which is tied for second best with Nick Van Exel and Quentin Richardson. Thanks to John Donovan for the heads up.
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Catch up on every single game-winning buzzer beater during the season and see how it rates on the Horry Scale.
the best shooter ever lived
ill be damned if Ray does not get into the hall of fame in the first ballot count…….man to shoot the ball like that, and to have a work ethic like that with a good clean image, its a little hard to find players like him in the NBA……. ill loose respect for the League if he does not get recognized for what he’s done for this game……..
well said
not without a reason somebody called it “the art of shooting”, cause this is what Ray does; the best shooter in the league for some time now but what’s best of him is his work ethic and the way he acts on and off the court – a role model and an icon to me. true words my man: “they don’t make’em like him anymore”
Ray Allen is the best 3 point shooter in the NBA
with that amazing catch and shoot.. what a player..
oo nga nman… ray allen for hall of fame… jejejeje
he’ll be missed, there’s really no one like him.
Major props to Ray…and here’s a story to prove he is a gentleman of great class and moral caliber: my sister-in-law was troubled after years of unsuccessful in-vitro fertilization attempts. In LA at a sushi restaurant fresh off her latest disappointment, she was waiting for a friend. A tall man asked her what was wrong as she was noticeably upset. She was mad and practically yelled at him about how it was impossible to get pregnant. Instead of being offended, he sat down next to her and shared his own story, that his wife had had a lot of trouble conceiving too, and he had tried everything from eating lots of blueberries and almonds to really working to get on the same vibe with her when he was home, which was hard sometimes because his job made him travel a lot. He encouraged her to not give up hope and was just incredibly nice. As the visit ended, she realized he might be someone of notoriety, and because he was so tall she took a stab and asked if he played basketball, because her nephews in Boston were big NBA fans. Of course he humbly admitted he was Ray Allen…my sister in law had no idea who that was but we all freaked out when she told us the story! And btw now my sister in law has a beautiful adopted daughter. Thanks to Mr. Allen for his class on the court and off.
Ray Allen has got game.
By the time he retires he will be able to surpass Regie Millers 3 points numbers and of course he will be in the NBA’s Hall of Fame.