Before Steph Curry even hoisted a shot this season, fans and media members were making their best predictions for when he would surpass Ray Allen’s all-time 3-point record. Over the past week the attention has intensified as Curry has inched closer to Allen’s career mark of 2,973 trifectas.
As Curry spoke to reporters at Gainbridge Fieldhouse during shootaround Monday morning before the Warriors’ matchup against the Indiana Pacers, he needed only seven 3-pointers to pass Allen. For the past few days – since the Warriors were prepping for last Wednesday’s game against the Portland Trail Blazers at Chase Center – Curry has been facing a constant stream of questions about the record.
In retrospect, Curry said “the only thing [he] would have changed” would have been to hold his tongue before the Blazers game and not tell reporters he thought he had a chance at hitting 16 3-pointers. If Curry did it, he would have broken Allen’s record at home before a five-game road trip, while also breaking Klay Thompson’s single-game record of 14 3-pointers made.
“I think that conversation sparked a little extra – I don’t wanna call it tension, but anxiousness about the whole thing,” Curry said, via Lets Go Warriors on YouTube.
Curry came out that game and missed four early 3-pointers against the Blazers but said he’d still take them if he had the chance to do it all over.
“I would shoot those whether it was Game 1, Game 82, the playoffs," Curry said. "That's how you approach the game. It just had a different context to it. To answer your question, it feels a little bit different now knowing we're right there. Again, it will happen when it happens and I'll enjoy it when it does."
Listen to Bay Area sports talk now on Audacy and shop the latest Warriors team gear
Warriors coach Steve Kerr said he also wishes he didn't feed the media machine when discussing Curry's chances against the Blazers.
"There hasn't been stress on our team," Kerr said (h/t Lets Go Warriors). "I would say it's been a slight distraction. I told the media in Philadelphia the other night -- I fed into it because somebody asked me if Steph could break it at home against Portland with 16 threes and I said, 'Sure.' Because nothing Steph does surprises me. But that fed into the narratives, he came out and took 17 threes that night, our crowd was going crazy from the very beginning. I'm shaking my head, thinking, 'What the hell did I just do?'"
Curry has knocked down nine 3-pointers in the two contests since, and now the record is undeniably in striking distance. Curry has made at least seven 3-pointers in eight of his 25 games played this season.
As Curry noted, there’s a convenient “narrative” for each of the Warriors’ upcoming road games to serve as the site for the record-breaking performance. If he does it in Indiana, it will be the court where Reggie Miller once roamed. Tuesday night the Warriors head to basketball’s mecca at Madison Square Garden, before heading to Boston Garden Friday – where Allen surpassed Miller in 2011.
Though he is shooting 40.4 percent from 3-point land this season, that figure is just 34.9 percent over the past six games.
“Obviously, I’d like to shoot the ball better and play better,” Curry said. “I know that’s going to happen. The record will come as part of that. I’m just enjoying the process.”
