Thursday night brought about the final regular season rematch from last year’s NBA Finals, as the Golden State Warriors traveled to Boston to face the Celtics, and the first half of action did not disappoint.
The two teams traded runs in the first two quarters, with Boston often being the one to make the first punch and the Warriors countering to pull back to even or a small lead. The end of the half featured the most entertaining of those back-and-forths, as Stephen Curry put an exclamation point on the half by poking the ball away from Jayson Tatum, gathering it in, and hoisting a 46-footer from beyond halfcourt that, naturally, found nothing but net.
STEPH AT THE BUZZER FROM HALF-COURT 🤯
WARRIORS LEAD AT THE HALF ON TNT pic.twitter.com/optksxdfib
— NBA (@NBA) January 20, 2023
It’s a preposterous play, but the shot itself is one that everyone in the arena and watching at home expected to go in as soon as it left his fingers because, well, that’s what Steph does. It’s also a shot he genuinely practices, ending his pregame warmup by pushing his shot back steadily from the three-point line to midcourt, so when he gathered it and was directly in the center of the floor, it was as comfortable a 46-foot shot as any player will have.
The shot gave Golden State the lead, but also made a little history, as Curry matched Jamal Crawford and Zach Randolph (??!) for the most 45-plus foot shots since the league started tracking that data in the mid-90s with the fifth such make of his career.
Stephen Curry's shot at the end of the half was from 46 feet.
That is his 5th made shot from 45+ feet in his career. That matches Zach Randolph and Jamal Crawford for the most since play-by-play was first tracked in 1996-97. pic.twitter.com/sX80egFhX0
— ESPN Stats & Info (@ESPNStatsInfo) January 20, 2023