New York Liberty guard Sabrina Ionescu made history on Friday afternoon in Las Vegas with an all-time hot streak during the WNBA 3-Point Contest that would have made any gambler jealous. Over and over she spun the ball up to the rim during the championship round, and 25 out of 27 times it landed on make.
But Ionescu's 20 makes in a row and 37 total points -- both 3-Point Contest records for the WNBA and NBA -- to claim the trophy were no dumb luck.
"I practice," Ionescu said. "I practice a lot of these live reps, so I'm able to do it today."
Sabrina Ionescu (@sabrina_i20) just set the all-time record for NBA or WNBA with a score of 37 PTS in the FINAL ROUND of the #Starry3PT Contest to be crowned the NEW 3-PT CHAMPION 🏆 | @starrylemonlime pic.twitter.com/YcGy3fDfBq
— WNBA (@WNBA) July 14, 2023
The fourth-year guard was not a great outside shooter to start her career; prior to this season, she had never shot better than 33.3% from beyond the arc. But after the arrival of Breanna Stewart, Jonquel Jones and Courtney Vandersloot in the offseason, Ionescu has been playing off the ball more than ever and is thriving with all the extra space.
She's shooting a career-high 44.6% on 7.6 attempts per game, and ranks fourth in the league in 3-point percentage and second in total makes (54). A whopping 83.3% of her 3-point makes this season have been assisted, compared to 63.8% last season when she was often creating for herself and firing off the dribble. Put her in space and give her a bit of time, and the shot is usually going in. That's true in games, and even more so in a 3-Point Contest.
Ionescu actually had quite a strong effort in the first round as well. She made both of the deep shot "Starry" balls worth three points, and finished with 26 points, second only to Sami Whitcomb. But that paled in comparison to her title-winning display. No one in the history of 3-Point Contests has ever been locked in to the level Ionescu was in the championship round.
She actually missed her first shot, then didn't miss again until the final shot of the fourth rack. In between she made 20 shots in a row, including both of the "Starry" attempts from well behind the line. It turned out she could have just skipped the final rack and still won, but she made all five shots to close the show anyway.
"I was just focused on making one at a time," Ionescu said. "I wasn't sure how many I'd miss but I knew it wasn't a lot. I'm happy to have won this, and thankful for the crowd, they were cheering me on the entire time."
As Ionescu walked off the floor she stopped to hug Allie Quigley, the record four-time champion who had the best single-round score prior to Friday. That mark now belongs to Ionescu, and likely will forever. Perhaps now she'll set her sights on surpassing Quigley in terms of trophies as well.
That, though, will require a lot more practice, and lot more Vegas-style hot streaks.
