There has been an abundance of comparisons lately between Steph Curry and Portland Trail Blazers guard Damian Lillard, most of whom are taken prisoners of the moment based on ignorance.
Yes, Lillard was absolutely amazing during the NBA reboot in leading the Trail Blazers to seed # 1. 8 of the Western Conference.
No, he didn’t overtake Curry as the best point guard in the game.
That said, Lillard is probably closing the gap. And now he’s done something that no player other than Curry has accomplished in NBA history.
Players who have shot 40% three-pointers out of at least 10 three-point attempts per game in a season:
– Steph Curry (2x)
– Damian Lillard this season pic.twitter.com/jiPsMGW2If– StatMuse (@statmuse) August 14, 2020
Lillard ended the regular season on Thursday after shooting 40.1% 3-point on 10.1 attempts from 3-points per game, becoming only the second player in league history to post that kind of efficiency on such high volume. Curry, of course, is the other, and he’s done it twice.
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In his 2015-16 unanimous MVP season, Curry shot a ridiculous 45.4% from long range with 11.2 3-point attempts per game. Then, in 2018-19, he made 43.7% of his 11.7 3-point attempts per game.
And he alone as soon as he failed to complete the feat a third time.
In 2016-17, Curry shot 41.1% from 3 points, but didn’t attempt enough 3 to qualify.
It was literally a short attempt.
curry in 2016-17 actually took 789 three in 79 games. he needed another three-point try to average 10 per game.
– StatMuse (@statmuse) August 14, 2020
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So, technically, Lillard will just have to do it one more time to match Curry.
That is, unless Curry reminds everyone of next season because he’s the biggest shooter in NBA history.
