Stephen Curry vs. history: 10 3-pointers away from breaking Ray Allen’s all-time record, Warriors hit the road

An update on Stephen Curry closing in on history: He’s nine 3-pointers away from tying Ray Allen’s all-time record for 3-pointers made, 10 away from breaking it, after going 6 for 17 from deep in the Golden State Warriors‘ 104-94 win against the Portland Trail Blazers on Wednesday. 

Allen made 2,973 3s in his 1,300-game career. Through 786 games, Curry has made 2,964. Even though Curry is taking and making more 3s this season than anyone ever has (18.2 attempts per 100 possessions is extraordinary), it was a bit weird that, heading into the Blazers game, analysts debated with seriousness his chances of breaking two all-time records simultaneously. He would have needed to break Klay Thompson’s single-game record of 14 made 3s in order to tie Allen’s career mark on Wednesday. (Curry himself said that “crazier things have happened.”) 

“I didn’t talk to him about it before the game,” Warriors coach Steve Kerr said. “I mean, you know, to make that many 3s in one game is — obviously, it’s never been done before. So it was just a routine night. He made six, which is nothing for him. I don’t think I ever did that in my entire career one time. So it was just kind of a ho-hum game, but a win. And we’re happy with that.”

Kerr, a 3-point record holder himself — his career mark of 45.4 percent is the best in NBA history — indeed never made more than five 3s in a single game. He never even attempted more than eight. Curry is making an average of 5.5 3s a game this season, which means Allen’s record will likely fall in one of the Warriors’ next two games.  

“He’s going to break the record eventually, we all know that,” Golden State forward Otto Porter Jr. said. “It’s just a matter of time. But my job is continue to try and get him open looks, even after he breaks the record.”

“He’s just a marksman,” Warriors big man Juan Toscano-Anderson said. “I feel like if you gave him a bow and arrow, he’s gonna hit the mark just because he’s literally a marksman. It’s kind of like, ‘Man, how do you make these shots?’ And I ask him, I ask him all the time, I ask him some dumb questions sometimes, but they’re just kind of like, ‘Dude, I just want to know.’ I asked him before, ‘What do you look at when you’re shooting?'”

Toscano-Anderson said that he has seen the countdown to the record on the jumbotron.

“But other than that, I ain’t really too lost in the numbers,” he said. “I’m just enjoying the show, man. It’s a lot of fun to watch that guy play. I know all y’all feel the same way. It’s a treat. I think everybody should be appreciative of what the basketball gods have given us. Because not too often you get to run into guys like this: the Mikes, the LeBrons, the Kobes, the Stephs. So, enjoy the show, ladies and gentlemen.”

Curry will continue his chase away from the Chase Center. Golden State will visit Philadelphia on Saturday, where Curry could theoretically reach the milestone by making a 3 over his brother, Sixers guard Seth Curry. (“Sort of a fitting, I guess, achievement, if that were to happen,” Kerr said Tuesday. “I don’t know if Seth would look at it that way, but it would be somewhat ironic.”) 

If Curry doesn’t get it there in Philly, then he could do it against the Indiana Pacers on Monday. And if he doesn’t do that, then he could do it the next night at Madison Square Garden, where he lit up the New York Knicks for 54 points on Feb. 27, 2013, a performance that literally changed the sport. Curry made 11 3s in that legendary game, only the second time he’d ever made more than seven, and it emboldened him to let it fly more freely than anyone else ever has. 

Is it likely that Curry will go off for 10 3s against the Sixers? Well, his career high is 13, set on Nov. 7, 2016, against the New Orleans Pelicans, and he’s hit double digits 22 times in his career. It hasn’t happened yet this season, but he has had four games with nine made 3s. Much crazier things have happened.