How many times has Stephen Curry been deprived of 3-point history?

April 13, 2016

What a difference five months makes. The November Stephen Curry — the one still getting used to his superpowers — was long gone. After making nine 3s just four times over his first six seasons, he hit the mark six times in four months.

After never hitting seven 3s in the first half, he had learned to do so in the first quarter. And after failing to connect on overzealous heat checks early on, he learned that the key was not to not take them, but simply to make them.

He employed this innovate strategy best on Feb. 27, when he made his 12th 3-pointer of the game as a 38-footer at the buzzer to beat the Thunder.

The last day of the season certainly provided Curry with challenges. His team was going for a record-setting 73rd win.

He was trying to simultaneously score enough points to average 30 and make enough 3s to reach 400, while also remaining efficient enough from the field to finish the year with a 50/40/90 slash line.

But this Curry was tactical. He understood that the best way to do these things was by coming out in the first quarter and knocking down six 3s. It was simpler that way.

He connected on one in the second, putting him at 399 for the season. So he again opened the 3rd quarter tactically, hitting a 3 on the Warriors’ first possession to remove that silly worry.

Knowing he wasn’t going to play the fourth quarter, he decided to cap his season off by making a 3 on the final shot of the third.

If you doubt that this version of Curry — the one who could move heaven and earth and reverse global warming with his jumper if that was what the situation called for — would not have calmly broken the single-game record that fourth quarter, I don’t know how to help you.