How does Steph Curry Shoot so well? During the 2021-22 NBA season we witnessed history in the making as Steph Curry broke the record for three-pointers made. Nobody ever wondered that he would do it but many waited to see him finally reach the top, to ask the question how does he do it?

The numbers that Curry puts up night in and night put are truly amazing but another thing that makes him stand out is the way he hits those shots. It really looks like he is just having fun while playing ball and he throws the ball from anywhere and it somehow goes in.

The range that Curry shows have never been seen before. He can literally shoot from any spot on the opponent’s half and that is actually a high percentage shot.

Every now and then, a video pops out of what Curry is doing in the warm-ups which also looks impressive. So we have to ask ourselves, how does he actually do it?

Steph Curry’s experience as a shooter

Well first of all, just like the majority of basketball players, Steph is talented. To be clearer about his case…he is extremely talented. It is obvious that his shot comes naturally, he is not one of those who has spent hours with a trainer who has built their shot. Steph just lets it fly…

The truth is there is something in the genes, however. Steph’s father Dell Curry was one of the best shooters in the NBA in the 1990s playing for the Charlotte Hornets. He even competed in the NBA Three-point contest which proves how good of a shooter he is. Steph and his brother Seth had a chance from a very early age to be in the basketball circles and to learn from one of the best shooters in the game.

The competition between the brothers has also played a major role in the development of Steph’s shot. As a matter of fact, his brother Steph who has recently been traded from the Philadelphia 76ers to the Brooklyn Nets is also a great shooter.

Steph was a great shooter even before we all heard about him. If you take a look at the pre-draft reports from his days at Davidson or even better, if you go to YouTube and see him play in college, it is obvious that he was good at this even before the NBA.

Here is what the website NBADraft.net said about Steph when he was just another draft prospect:

“Heady, precocious player with a solid feel for the game. His greatest asset is his outside shooting ability. Bigtime scorer with 21 points per game as a freshman with the ability to score from all over the court. Shows an excellent shooting form with a quick release and the ability to spot up and shoot or hit shots off the dribble. Solid decision maker, shows the understanding of the game that you would expect from an NBA players’ son. Has excellent quickness. A solid defender with good instincts especially with his anticipation for steals.”

So this is a proof that he was simply born to do this. Of course, Curry has put in a lot of work as a pro to get where he is now, and that is the very top of the league.

Steph Curry’s work ethic as a shooter

So let’s see what Curry actually achieved this season.

In mid-December last year, on the biggest basketball stage in the Madison Square Garden, Steph Curry made his 2,974^th three-pointer to surpass Ray Allen on the all-time list.

Those who remember the 2009 NBA Draft night can recall that Curry actually wanted to be selected by the Knicks and call the Madison Square Garden a home, but the Warriors stole him right in front of their eyes. His anger was visible on his face but things went on very well for him.

Twelve years later, Curry made NBA history in the place where he wanted to play so badly.

He prepared to face the Knicks with two three-pointers shy of Ray Allen’s record. It was obvious that that would be his night. After he made the first three of the game, everybody was expecting the big moment.

The record-setting bucket came at the 7:32 mark on a play that Curry didn’t even expect to get the ball. Curry said Golden State runs the play often, but Andrew Wiggins “never passes out of that play,” according to Draymond Green.

The game was paused as Curry received a standing ovation from those in attendance. Curry got hugs from his father Dell as well as from Allen.

Right there and then, we witnessed a record that will probably never be reached, a record which will stay forever just like Wilt Chamberlian’s 100-point game.

This record seems impressive at first sight but what makes it even more impressive is how quickly Curry reached this milestone.

Ray Allen played in 1,300 games or a total of 46,344 minutes en route to his record while Curry needed only 789 games or 27,077 minutes. In other words, Curry broke the record while playing in 511 fewer games than Allen which equals to six full seasons.

Allen attempted 7,429 3-point shots while Curry 6,903. Curry has made at least nine 3-point shots in 38 games. He holds the NBA season record for 3-point shots made in a season with 402, and consecutive games of making at least one 3-point shot with 157 or 30 more than his nearest rival.

It might be one thing if Curry were simply breaking records through sheer volume of shots, but he’s shooting accurately. Allen made 40% of his 3-point shots; Curry 43%. Curry is seventh on the career list for 3-point accuracy and none of the six players ahead of him had more than 2,000 attempts. In other words, they took about 5,000 fewer shots.

So these types of differences, are typical when you try to compare two players who played in the NBA decades apart but that is not the case with Steph Curry and Ray Allen. Yes, Ray came into the league when Curry was only 8 years old and played against his father Dell Curry, but when Steph made it to the NBA in 2009, Ray Allen was still in the league.

So how this huge difference between the two top three-point shooters has come? What happened?

Well, the answer to this question is Steph Curry himself.

Steph Curry’s physical shooting abilities

Coming out of the University of Davidson, Curry was an excellent shooter but nothing more than that. In the scouting reports, he was labeled as skinny, with a weak body frame that will not fit in the NBA.

But as Curry got into the league, he didn’t change himself, he changed the game.

The percentage of shots taken from beyond the 3-point line has increased annually for 10 years and will probably go up again this season.

Three-point shots accounted for 22.2% of all shots during the 2010-11 season but that number has increased to 39.2% of all shots last season. It is likely to come in at 40% this season.

Back in the day, not even the point guards took many threes, they were strictly a job for the shooting guards and not for all of them. Michael Jordan who is the best scorer and player in general of all time didn’t use the three-point shot much on his way to scoring more than 32,000 points in his career.

Nowadays if you have a power forward who cannot stretch the floor and make a three, he might be out of a job.

During the 2020-21 season, the Utah Jazz set an NBA record by sinking an average of 16.7 3-point field goals per game.

So if you wonder who initiated this trend in the past decade, the answer is Steph Curry and the Golden State Warriors.

When Curry entered the league, the bigs were not as dominant as they once were but still, not everyone on the roster was taking long-distance shots.

As Curry grew as a player and the Golden State Warriors let him do what he does best on the court, the Warriors were starting to develop a good team, which only a few years later became a dynasty. If you are wondering who to blame for that, it is Steph Curry again.

Before Curry came to the fore, three-point shooting was an element of NBA offenses, rather than a reliable method to success.

But through his elite stamina, know-how, mobility, accuracy and tenacity, Curry has changed perceptions.

He led the way in addition to other teams like the James Harden-led Houston Rockets — for normalizing shooting from a distance on a court that previously was unthinkable and just might have gotten you benched.

Such is Curry’s influence is that he completely transformed the way basketball teams have played around the league, with more and more focusing on their long-range shooting.

There is also a whole new generation of players — including Trae Young and Luka Doncic — for whom three-point shooting is a primary way of scoring, not just something to use occasionally.

In his rookie year, Curry was a strong contender for the Rookie of the Year award, averaging 17.5 points, 4.5 rebounds, 5.9 assists, and 1.90 steals while shooting 43.7% from beyond the arc.

During his first few seasons, he showed his potential for being a scoring threat while suffering from some injuries, while also developing a rapport with teammate Klay Thompson, earning the pair the catchy nickname, the “Splash Brothers.”

He averaged over 20 points per game from 2012 onwards, but it was the hiring of Steve Kerr in 2014 that transformed Curry into a superstar.

Through a combination of Kerr’s tactical changes to the Warriors’ style of play and Curry’s excellence, Golden State catapulted into title contention and Curry evolved into one of the league’s best players.

He was voted the NBA’s Most Valuable Player on the way to the Warriors’ first NBA title in 40 years, but the best was yet to come.

In the 2015-16 season, Curry entered another stratosphere.

He became the seventh player in NBA history to join the 50-40-90 club — where players average over 50% shooting from the field, 40% from threes, and 90% from the free-throw line.

While he set the NBA record for most three-pointers in a season with 272 in 2012-13, he broke that just two years later getting 286. However, in 2016, he went to a different level, scoring an extraordinary 402 threes to smash his own record.

As well as helping the Warriors to an all-time NBA record of 73 wins and nine losses, Curry himself had his own moment of history, being named as the league’s first-ever unanimous MVP in recognition for his dominant season.

Although the Warriors suffered a heartbreaking loss to LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers in the NBA Finals that year, Curry and Golden State bounced back to win consecutive titles in 2017 and 2018 as he established himself as one of the most dynamic and destructive players in the league.

Despite entering his 30s, Curry has not slowed down, averaging a career-high in points last season and almost single-handedly taking a young and injured Warriors team to the brink of the playoffs.

And this season, still with a relatively inexperienced team, Curry has continued to shine, leading his Warriors to another playoff appearance.

We all have heard the basketball laws that defense win championships, that long-distance shooting cannot get you far, but Curry proved all that wrong. Many think that Curry is just a shooter let by his team to shoot as much as he wants but he is much more than that. He is a player who proved that just playing and enjoying basketball can get you far. When his dad Dell played in the NBA, everybody wanted to be like Michael Jordan, to be able to fly through the air and dunk the ball. Nowadays that also has changed. No, it’s cool just to shoot, now everybody wants to be like Steph.