PORTLAND, Dec 18: Stephen Curry’s NBA-record 3-pointer streak ended at 268 games Sunday night in the Golden State Warriors’ 118-114 victory over the Portland Trail Blazers.
Curry was 0 for 8 from 3-point range, 2 for 12 overall and scored seven points. He began the streak December 1, 2018, at Detroit.
Curry, the NBA career leader who recently made his 3,500th 3-pointer, last went without one in a regular-season game on November 8, 2018, when he was 0 for 4 against Milwaukee. He also owns the second-longest NBA streak at 157 games.
“We can’t rely on Steph to bail us out on every single night,” Warriors coach Steve Kerr said.
“It was a tough night for him, but that’s what a team is supposed to be about. Everybody filling in for each other, different guys stepping up each night. That’s a great sign, because he’s carried us for long enough this year. We need to give him more help.”
The two-time MVP missed all nine 3-point attempts in Game 5 of the 2022 NBA Finals against Boston, one game before the Warriors won the title. Curry had made one in his previous 132 postseason games, another NBA record.
Klay Thompson scored 28 points on the night as Golden State Warriors held off the Portland Trail Blazers for their second straight victory.
Andrew Wiggins, who was recently taken out of the Golden State’s starting lineup, had 25 points and seven rebounds.
“He did a little bit of everything. Rebounded, hit 3s, played above the rim,” Thompson said. “That’s the Wigs we love.”
Said Kerr: “That looked like vintage Andrew.. That’s the guy I know.”
Rookie Trayce Jackson-Davis had 14 points and eight rebounds to help the Warriors win consecutive games for the first time since the end of a five-game winning streak in early November.
Jerami Grant led Portland with 30 points. Anfernee Simons scored all 21 of his points in the second half.
Portland cut it to 113-111 with 39 seconds left. Chris Paul’s jumper with 20.9 seconds left pushed the Warriors’ lead to 115-11, and Simon’s 3-point play made it a 115-114 with 14.7 seconds to go.
“Chris Paul, what a gamer he is to hit those shots at the end,” Thompson said about Paul, who scored all four of his points in the final 2:26.
After Curry split a pair of free throws to make it 116-114, Portland’s Shaedon Sharpe was called for an offensive foul with 0.6 seconds left. Portland had a timeout remaining but elected not to call one with Sharpe attacking the basket as Golden State’s Brandin Podziemski drew the game-sealing foul.
“Going in I was thinking rebound, let’s go timeout,” Portland coach Chauncey Billups said. “But we got it out quick and once we started attacking, I didn’t really want to call a timeout at that point. We couldn’t really advance it after the play started going. If Shae had stopped attacking, I would have called a timeout. But once he was attacking, I thought let the young fellow figure it out.”. (AP)
