Steph reveals one thing he regrets from 3-point record chase originally appeared on NBC Sports Bayarea
This isn’t something new to Steph Curry. Over his 13-year NBA career, he has broken numerous records. That’s especially true when it comes to launching, and making, 3-pointers.
Chasing, and soon breaking, Ray Allen’s career 3-point record does feel different to the Warriors superstar, though. It certainly is one that has been on his mind for a long time, and one that he’s ready to finish.
“This one is different,” Curry said Monday to reporters before the Warriors’ road game against the Indiana Pacers. “I got a lot more left in my career but it is a career-type milestone that I’ve been thinking about for many years. Playoffs and that type of stuff, you’re chasing championships. It’s kind of business as usual. You have a certain process and routine that you stick to.
“I think about it a lot but it’s not like you come out and you’re counting every time you make a 3. Nothing really changes except the anticipation of something I’ve been looking forward to for a long time.”
Curry comes into Monday night’s contest needing seven 3-pointers to break Allen’s record, which the Hall of Fame shooting guard accomplished over 18 seasons. It’s no guarantee he’ll break the record in Indiana, but it is a lot more doable than what he was aiming for his previous two games.
To highlight just how much we expect out of the two-time NBA MVP at this point, it actually did seem reasonable that he could drain 16 3s last Wednesday at Chase Center against the Portland Trail Blazers. That not only would have broke the all-time career record but also the single-game record of 14, held by his Warriors teammate Klay Thompson. The most 3-pointers Curry has made in a game is 13.
If there’s one aspect of chasing Allen’s career record that Curry does regret, it’s that he didn’t exactly quiet the talk of possibly doing it in front of his home fans with an absurd 16 3-pointers.
“In retrospect, the only thing that I would have changed … like that crazy fade-type of mentality of ‘Yeah, I could have hit 16 and broke it at home.’ I think that conversation sparked a little extra — I won’t call it tension — anxiousness about that whole night,” Curry said. “Those shots I took, I missed my first four, I would still shoot those whether it was Game 1 or Game 82 or in the playoffs, that’s how you approach the game.
“It just added a different context to it.”
Head coach Steve Kerr agress, and has his own frustrations with himself for adding to the narrative.
“I would say it’s been a slight distraction,” Kerr said. “And 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 3s and I said, ‘Sure,’ because nothing Steph does surprises me. But that fed into the narrative — he came out and took 17 3s that night, our crowd was going crazy from the very beginning. And I’m shaking my head thinking, what the hell did I just do?
“I think the most important thing is we just have to settle in and it’s going to happen obviously pretty soon. We just have to get into a rhythm. We haven’t been great offensively over the last five or six games — it’s more likely that he’ll make more 3s if our team’s in a good rhythm and we’re just playing.”
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The Warriors have averaged 112.5 points per game this season, which is third in the NBA. But over their last two games, one win and one loss, they scored 104 and a season-low 93 points. That’s good for 98.5 points per game.
Curry in his last two games has shot just 29 percent from deep, going 9-for-31 while trying to cross this finish line.
Now that he’s seven away, he admitted the tension and anxiousness has worn off a bit.
“Yeah, it feels a little different now knowing we’re right there,” Curry said. “Again, it will happen when it happens and I’ll enjoy it whenever it does.”
Though he has averaged a career-low 20.3 points per game in 18 contests against the Indiana Pacers, expect Curry to come out under control and more in rhythm. It’s no secret he wants this to end, and as kindly as he can put it, so does Kerr. Until then, Curry will keep playing his game and letting it fly until he finally leaps Allen atop the all-time leaderboard.