By Leobert Julian A. de la Peña
Well, we might have to get used to the Philippine Basketball Association’s (PBA) announcers using the term “four-pointer” in all of the scheduled games.
In a surprising turn of events on July 22, 2024, the PBA officially announced that they will be implementing the formal inclusion of the four-point shot this upcoming season.
The decision came after the PBA board held their recently concluded annual planning session with the main aim of stabilizing the league’s reputation as the premier league in Southeast Asia.
In a closed-door meeting held in Osaka, Japan, PBA commissioner Willie Marcial together with the executive board laid down the plans that they think can help elevate the current status of the world’s second-oldest continuously existing hoops league.
One of the highlights of their strategic meeting was the addition of the four-point shot in all of the PBA regular season, All-Star, and playoff games.
According to Marcial and the PBA board, the inclusion of the new long-distanced bomb is to gain more engagement from their fans and can also bring more excitement to the games.
Furthermore, the main aim is to give the die-hard PBA fans something that they won’t forget if they watch and follow all of the televised and live games.
The PBA already included the four-point shot during the last two All-Star game editions, providing something new that the fans can look after.
That move then paid off for the PBA as the four-pointer was heavily used by Robert Bolick after leading his team to a come-from-behind victory, courtesy of some clutch conversions from the four-point line.
In addition, the PBA board said that the four-point line will be specifically anywhere as long as it is in the 27-foot mark and beyond.
With the emergence of the four-point shot, teams will have to adapt and change both their offensive and defensive schemes, particularly their approach to the zone defense.
As per Alfrancis Chua, the current vice chairman of the PBA board and the sports director of the San Miguel Corporation (SMC), the four-point shot will force teams to tone down deploying the zone defense and let the shooter shoot.
Will this new offensive rule help the ratings of the PBA shoot up? Or will it create more confusion among the fans, teams, and the whole national basketball community?
