Steph Curry became the first player in NBA history to make 3,500 three-pointers during the Golden State Warriors’ 124-120 win against the Brooklyn Nets.
Curry reached the milestone a year after taking ownership of the league’s three-point record and ended the night with 3,505 career threes – 532 more than Ray Allen, the next best in the all-time list.
More crucially, the two-time MVP produced a superb fourth-quarter performance on Saturday, scoring 16 of his 37 points as the Warriors held on for the victory to improve to 11-14 on the season.
“Steph was sublime down the straight,” Warriors head coach Steve Kerr told reporters. “That was unreal. We’ve seen him do this over and over again but it never ceases to amaze me what that guy is capable of.”
Curry knocked down his 3,500th three in the first quarter as the Warriors gained an early advantage at the Chase Center on their way to a 70-54 halftime lead.
Klay Thompson moved to ninth on the all-time three-point list, passing Jason Terry’s tally of 2,282 in the third quarter, but the Nets, who were led by Cam Thomas’ game-high 41 points, fought back and went ahead through Mikal Bridges three-pointer in the fourth quarter.
Curry, however, had other ideas, making every shot and scoring 12 straight points in the fourth.
“It was just be aggressive as much as you can, attack where the gaps were,” Curry told reporters about his mindset toward the end of the game. “I obviously live with the shots that I take every night and it went in tonight.”
The Warriors were playing without Draymond Green after the forward was handed an indefinite suspension following an on-court altercation earlier this week.
Green was ejected for the third time this season during the Warriors’ 119-116 defeat against the Phoenix Suns after he struck center Jusuf Nurkić in the face with his right arm. The 33-year-old later apologized and claimed that it was accidental.
“There’s been a lot of conversations, a lot of noise around us,” said Curry. “We had a meeting the day before the LA [Clippers] game [on Friday], that was important for us to kind of settle on where we were, what was going on, and for everybody to say how they felt.”
The victory against Brooklyn ended a three-game losing run for the Warriors, and they have now won their past five home games. They next play the Portland Trail Blazers on Sunday, while the Nets face the Utah Jazz on Monday.