Stephen Curry and the Warriors are back in the NBA Finals for the first time since 2019, and it’s as if they never left.
During the first quarter of Game 1 against the Celtics, Curry hit the most 3-pointers in an NBA Finals quarter and tied the playoffs mark dating back to at least the 1997 season with 6 3-pointers, according to Stathead.
Steph just set an #NBAFinals record and we’re only a quarter into the series 🤯 pic.twitter.com/rkCbPf5SLh
— Golden State Warriors (@warriors) June 3, 2022
#StephGonnaSteph https://t.co/CH4PnQgZGZ pic.twitter.com/iMVgWZiAEH
— Golden State Warriors (@warriors) June 3, 2022
While the Celtics will likely do the best they can to shut Curry down the rest of the game, there is no doubt that Curry’s unreal first quarter helps position him — and the Warriors — to target NBA Finals records for 3-point shooting.
MORE: Warriors vs. Celtics live score, updates, highlights from Game 1 of NBA Finals
What are the records Curry and Golden State are chasing? The Sporting News takes a look.
NBA Finals 3-point records
Curry is chasing a record set by the greatest 3-point shooter in NBA history: himself. Back in the 2018 NBA Finals, Curry sank nine 3-pointers in Game 2 against the Cavaliers as Golden State went on to win the game 122-103 and take a 2-0 series lead, per Stathead. It took only four games to win the title that year.
Former Celtic Ray Allen had previously set the record at eight against the Lakers in Game 2 of the 2010 NBA Finals. Before Allen, the record had first been set at seven by Kenny Smith in 1995. Fourteen players, including Curry four times, have matched that total of seven in a game.
With his six 3-pointers in the first quarter, Curry has already extended his record for the most NBA Finals games with at least six 3s to nine. Curry represents 22.5 percent of all NBA Finals player games in which they made at least six 3-point shots. Teammate Klay Thompson has the second-most games with at least six 3-pointers at four.
Curry also holds the record for the most 3-point attempts in a game with 17, which he attempted in that Game 2 against the Cavaliers, according to Stathead. He has appeared in 28 NBA Finals games and has attempted 11 of the 12 most 3-pointers in a game.
The Warriors and Celtics could both chase the team record for 3-pointers in an NBA Finals game. That record belongs to the Cavaliers in Game 4 of the 2017 NBA Finals, when they drained 24 in a 137-116 win, per Stathead. The Warriors had previously held the record with 18, which they made in Game 2 of that series in a 132-113 record, though the Warriors in 2019 and Suns in 2021 have each since passed that mark with 20 each.
The only team in NBA Finals history to make more than 15 3-pointers in a game and lose: the Bucks in Game 1 of the 2021 NBA Finals, when they made 16 and fell 118-108 to the Suns.
The Warriors and Celtics could also chase the combined team record. During the game in which the Cavaliers set the team record for 3s in a game, the Warriors made 11 3-point attempts, putting their combined total at 35, which is the most by two teams in the same NBA Finals game.
