The most important stat for the Golden State Warriors right now is 8-2. That’s their record over the last 10 games, as things have looked like they’re turning around with the team back over a .500 record into the season’s final stretch.

Draymond Green’s defensive presence certainly deserves a mountain of credit for that, as does the emergence of third-year wing Jonathan Kuminga, but it’s hard to spread the credit around fully when their generational superstar of a point guard is averaging just over 30 points on a mind-boggling 6.3 makes from three per game, good for a 46% field goal percentage on those looks alone. He scored 32 last night at home against the Lakers, drilling half his total looks while making another 6 triples.

Amongst the insanity of his deep-range prowess, Steph even set a new record as the only player in NBA history to make 7 or more threes in 4 straight games. It’s another addition to the shooting record books that just widen the gap between him and the competition when it comes to the “greatest shooter ever” discussion.

We’ve seen him work similar magic in April of 2021 to push the Warriors into the play-in, where he averaged 37 points per game for the whole month, draining an eerily-similar 6.4 triples per game on 46% shooting. During his unanimous MVP campaign in 2016, Curry set a made-threes record that seemed virtually unbreakable at 402…

Virtually unbreakable until now.

The Warriors have 29 games left on their schedule, and are currently standing at 28-26 after yesterday’s win, which is good enough for the 10th seed currently in a competitive Western Conference. He’s hit 258 total threes this season, nailing an outstanding 5.1 per game. To reach that magic 402 number, Curry would have to make 144 more threes over the next 28 games.

And how many threes per contest does that add up to? 5.1, his season average.

Hitting another 144 threes is very doable, as the Dubs will be battling their way up the standings in hopes of dodging the play-in and will need every game to count. The last stretch of the season comes with two up-in-the-air season series conclusions with teams whose tiebreakers it’d be important to own if things come down to the wire: The Los Angeles Lakers, who the Warriors are currently trailing directly behind in the standings. With several other conference opponents like the streaking Dallas Mavericks, first-seeded Minnesota Timberwolves, and defending champion Denver Nuggets on the board as well, it’s time for the squad to lock all the way in.

There’s been some criticism that he’s taking too many per game to get to this number, as usual when it comes to someone who’s indisputably great. The Warriors, heralds of the three-point revolution in the NBA, definitely do take a lot of threes; but when you’re the best at something, why not just keep shooting?

The critique is largely unnecessary regardless, given that these aren’t really bad shots. Kuminga’s leap year combined with Andrew Wiggins starting to return to form has generated rim pressure for Golden State in ways that they previously haven’t been able to do, which gives more room for Curry to take the shots he takes. The unique combination of volume and efficiency which Steph has on his shots is the equivalent to a James Harden isolation play during his prime seasons, and there was little dispute that Harden should keep playing iso-ball since it made him not only unguardable, but led the Houston Rockets to heights they hadn’t been familiar with in ages.

Given the connected nature of the Warriors offense now that they can put pressure on defenses from inside the arc, it frees up Steph to take as many threes as he wants. And that should be the gameplan, because when you have the best to ever do something on your team, don’t overthink it: Let them do what they do, especially when teams “poke the bear” like the newest WT merch drop warns against. It would have been unfathomable to think that Curry could relax a bit during games where the Warriors need scoring, but Kuminga’s play has earned him a solid role as the 2nd option, and Klay Thompson may not be the player he once was, but his first game off the bench ended with him posting a 35-point performance in 29 minutes: Vintage Klay, showing that he’s still got it.

Going record-chasing is secondary to the Warriors winning right now, but if the last 10 games are any indication of how they’ll need to play to get firmly into a playoff position while poising themselves to make an unexpected run, then Curry will be firmly in the mix as usual - barring an injury, another slump is the only thing standing between him and a legit shot at making history this late in his career.

And Steph Curry doesn’t slump in the spring.

(Photo credit: AP Photo / Jeff Chiu