Curry surpasses Sabrina Ionescu in historic three-point shooting competition – 02/18/2024 – Sport

Stephen Curry, of the Golden State Warriors, defeated Sabrina Ionescu, of the New York Liberty, on Saturday (17), in the first three-point shooting competition between stars of the North American men’s (NBA) and women’s (WNBA) basketball leagues.

This challenge was the main novelty of the NBA All-Star Game weekend in Indianapolis.

Ionescu, who last year won the WNBA competition with a surprising score and was the first to compete shooting from the NBA’s three-point line, from a greater distance than in her league, but with smaller balls, started the duel scoring 26 points.

That same score had been enough minutes earlier for Damian Lillard to win the NBA’s traditional three-point shooting competition for the second year in a row.

Curry, the best shooter in NBA history, started his turn with some mistakes, but warmed up with the last few shots until finishing with 29 points.

After the battle, Ionescu and Curry hugged each other and expressed their desire for events like this to continue happening between the two leagues.

“A night like this shows that if you can shoot, you can throw. It doesn’t matter if you’re a boy or a girl,” Ionescu emphasized to the applause of the Indianapolis audience.

“It was incredible to be the first to participate in this type of event and put on a great spectacle, but understanding what it means. I’m excited to change the narrative and be able to do this alongside the greatest at it,” said the 26-year-old player.

“She raised the bar,” Curry said. “It was amazing to see her (…) We have to do this more often.”

Last year, Ionescu staged a WNBA-record three-point shooting contest, missing just two of her 27 shots and making 20 in a row.

His display received praise from the basketball world, including Curry, a two-time NBA contest winner (2015 and 2021), whom Ionescu challenged to compete in this head-to-head.

Damian Lillard is two-time champion in three-point shooting and repeats Jason Kapono’s feat in 2007-08

In one of the highest-level competitions in recent years, Damian Lillard (Bucks) became the All-Star three-point shooting king for the second consecutive year, beating center Karl-Anthony Towns (Timberwolves) and point guard Trae in the final Young (Hawks).

Leaving last, Lillard reached in advance the 24 points that his two rivals had achieved and, after several misses, hit the winning three-point shot in his last opportunity and celebrated by pointing to his wrist, his emblematic gesture known as ‘Dame Time’ .

“It’s good to do it with a little drama,” joked the point guard. “I actually didn’t know how I was doing, but from the crowd I knew I had to get the last one right to win.”

Lillard, who won the title last year in a Blazers uniform, is the first player to defend that title since Jason Kapono between 2007 and 2008.