On This Day in Sports: March 5, 1996
On March 5, 1996, Dallas attempted 49 three-point shots in a 127–117 victory over the New Jersey Nets, setting what was then an NBA single-game record. The total was startling in an era when many teams still treated the three-pointer as a specialized option. Dallas made the perimeter shot the central feature of its attack for one night and produced a glimpse of how professional basketball would eventually change.
Guard George McCloud led the barrage. He attempted twenty shots from beyond the arc and made seven, stretching New Jersey’s defense across the floor. The 1995–96 season used the NBA’s temporarily shortened three-point line, which had been moved to a uniform 22 feet. That adjustment encouraged more attempts leaguewide, but 49 still represented an extreme commitment by the standards of the mid-1990s.
The record also showed the tradeoff built into high-volume perimeter play. Misses could produce long rebounds and quick transition chances for the opponent, while makes created rapid swings in score and forced defenders away from the paint. Dallas kept shooting because the spacing opened driving lanes and because three points rewarded the same possession more heavily than a long two-point attempt.
Later teams turned those calculations into an offensive philosophy supported by detailed shot data. The NBA restored the longer arc after the 1996–97 season, yet three-point volume resumed climbing and eventually made 49 attempts feel ordinary. Dallas’s record did not permanently transform the league by itself, but it now looks like an early signal of a future in which spacing, pace and perimeter shooting would organize entire offenses.
Dallas beat New Jersey 127–117 in the record-setting game.
The team attempted 49 shots from three-point range.
George McCloud took twenty threes and made seven.
The NBA used a shortened, uniform 22-foot arc that season.
High volume created spacing as well as transition risk.
Later offenses made totals like 49 increasingly common.
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