Stephen Curry’s hot streak is exactly why the Warriors went all-in with Jimmy Butler

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Stephen Curry enters the Golden State Warriors’ nationally televised Thursday matchup with the Sacramento Kings just two shots away from yet another piece of long-distance history.

After going 5-for-11 from deep in Golden State’s 130-120 win over the Portland Trail Blazers on Monday, Curry sits at 3,998 made 3-pointers for his illustrious career. Two more, and he becomes the first player ever to make 4,000 3-pointers. (In the regular season, anyway. Factor in playoff performance, and Steph’s already within striking distance of 5,000.)

“It’s crazy — crazy,” Warriors head coach Steve Kerr told reporters after a recent win over the Pistons during which Curry became the 30th player in NBA/ABA history to reach 25,000 career points. “It feels like 25,000 3s, actually.”

(Stefan Milic/Yahoo Sports Illustration)

Chances are it won’t take Curry too long to get those two triples.

Curry averages 4.5 made 3-pointers per game, leading the league for the fifth straight season (and the 12th time in the last 13 years). He has made two or more 3s in 52 of his 56 games this season — including 17 straight, the NBA’s longest active streak. He’s hit two before halftime 34 times this season; he’s knocked in a pair in the first quarter 15 times.

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Combine that with the fact that Curry will be facing a Sacramento defense that’s given up more triples per game this season than anybody but the woeful Jazz and Pelicans — and that, on Monday, allowed a Knicks team missing superstar point guard Jalen Brunson to drain a season-high-tying 22 long balls — and the conditions seem favorable for an early celebration of the latest in a long line of beyond-the-arc milestones on the résumé of the greatest shooter the game’s ever seen.

In 2013, Curry set a new record for most 3-pointers in a single season, surpassing Ray Allen’s previous mark of 269:

Two years later, en route to his first NBA Most Valuable Player award, he surpassed himself, re-setting the bar at 286 long balls:

One year after that, in what would become the first unanimous MVP…

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Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/nba/article/stephen-currys-hot-streak-is-exactly-why-the-warriors-went-all-in-with-jimmy-butler-142719170.html

Author : Yahoo Sports

Publish date : 2025-03-13 14:27:00

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