On Tuesday night, in the hoops cathedral that is Madison Square Garden, Stephen Curry finally had his moment. After some wild chatter about hitting 16 three-pointers in a single game, multiple rough shooting nights and a shocking loss to the Sixers, the Golden State Warriors star finally became the NBA‘s all-time three-point king.
For Curry, passing Ray Allen’s 2,973 career makes from long-range was about more than setting a new statistical standard, though. No. 2,974 also gave him the confidence to finally lay claim to a title that the rest of us have been hoisting upon him for years.
“I never wanted to call myself the greatest shooter until I got that record. I’m comfortable saying that now,” Curry revealed, via NBC Sports Bay Area, after his record-breaking effort.
Of course, Curry isn’t just the greatest shooter or the guy with the most makes, he’s the one who changed the game by ushering in a three-point revolution. However, even that accomplishment isn’t enough to satisfy the legendary marksman; other players have changed the game before, after all.
Instead, Steph has set his sights on doing something that no other player can match.
Steph Sets Lofty New Goal
After breaking Allen’s record, Curry paid his respects to the sharpshooters that came before him.
“I think everybody talks about the greatest shooter ever and all that conversation,” Curry said. “My respect for Reggie [Miller] and Ray, guys who set the bar for what it meant to be a sharpshooter, to have the longevity as well. For me, I’ve tried to own that in my journey in terms of range, volume, efficiency. All those things go into it.”
However, he went on to set a loftier goal for himself than just passing a pair of old greats.
“Now I can pride myself on the longevity of getting to that number that Ray set and hopefully pushing it to a number that nobody can reach.”
Did you catch that? For all the skimmers out there, Curry is saying that he wants to extend this new record to the point that no one will ever be able to pass him. He quite literally wants to set an unbreakable record.
“We’ll see what happens, but that’s something that the balance of volume and efficiency for me is the standard that I wanted to set.”
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Other ‘Unbreakable’ Hoops Records
Given the way the NBA game is always changing and evolving, it’s difficult to say whether Curry will be able to establish a truly unbreakable record. His volume is incredible now, but it took him three or four years to get to that level. Some of today’s players have been firing away since Day 1, so they’ve got a leg up in that respect.
Still, a number of “unbreakable” records have already been established in the Association.
For his part, Jazz legend John Stockton owns two — the all-time assists (15,806) and steals (3,265) marks. Then there’s Wilt Chamberlain, whose 48.5 minutes played per game during the 1961-62 campaign is an unimaginable number today. The same could probably be said for his 118 career 50-plus-point games.
However, the best record of the bunch may belong to Bill Russell, who captured 11 championship rings as a player. Given the ever-expanding nature of free agency and the sheer volume of good teams in the league each and every year, it’s difficult to envision anyone else achieving such a sustained period of dominance.
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Warriors’ Steph Curry Has Designs on Setting Unbreakable Record