Stephen Curry Narrowly Beat Sabrina Ionescu In A Thrilling Three-Point Shootout

After the Three-Point Contest at NBA All-Star Saturday Night, a second shooting competition awaited before the Dunk Contest in the form of a special contest between Stephen Curry and Sabrina Ionescu to crown the best Three-Point Contest shooter. Curry held the record for most points in a competition for a few years before Ionescu broke it this past summer, and they settled the score for charity in Indianapolis.

As is always the case with a live sporting event, there was the possibility that one of them could go cold and it would be a bit of a dud, but the two both showed up and showed out in a major way. First up was Ionescu, as she got to set the pace that Steph would have to chase. Ionescu caught fire out of the gate, making every shot on her first rack and once again looking like she might go off on an historic run, this time shooting from the NBA line.

She tapered off a bit at the very end, finishing with 26 — which was the winning number from Damian Lillard in both rounds in the Three-Point Contest just prior — and leaving the door just a bit ajar for Curry. Steph got off to a slower start, but he torched his last two racks, using his moneyball rack in the final corner to narrowly beat Sabrina with a score of 29 to take home the belt.

Afterwards, Ionescu noted the competition showed that no matter who you are, if you can shoot you can shoot, and her performance and comments were certainly inspirational as she clearly wanted to make a statement and did just that. Curry, meanwhile, did what we’ve come to expect from him and put on a terrific show on his way to a win, with some late drama that made for a very fun event.