Stephen Curry makes 4,000th career triple in Warriors' win over Kings

The Golden State Warriors beat the Sacramento Kings 130-104 at the Chase Center in San Francisco, California, on Thursday night. The victory tasted even sweeter because the hosts' future Hall of Famer Stephen Curry knocked down two triples to reach 4,000 on this front in his career.

It has been a week since the speculations began over when Curry would reach this milestone. Understandably, no team wanted to be on the other side of the floor when he did it and the Kings were no exception.

That explained the visitors' defensive strategy of containing Curry outside the three-point line at all costs, including leaving other Warriors wide open. The Kings may not be a strong defensive team, but they have acceptable resources to guard Curry: 2.03-meter-tall, athletic Keegan Murray and 1.98-meter-tall point of attack defender Keon Ellis.

Wherever Curry was, denying him the ball was the first priority for the defender on him. Double-teaming would come immediately if he tried to call for a screen, even if when he did it two steps from the logo. His first field goal (FG) came over four minutes into the first quarter when Draymond Green assisted for a reverse layup. Two minutes later, Jonathan Kuminga, in his first appearance in over two months, set up for Curry to drain a triple.

The Kings further enhanced their defense on Curry, limiting him to taking only two shots from the field in the second quarter and he missed both. Meanwhile, the rest of the Warriors shot 16-for-31 in FGs. They outscored the opponents 61-51 in the first half.

The historic moment came at 8:19 in the third quarter. His pass to Moses Moody was almost intercepted by Malik Monk, but Moody received it and passed back to Curry who was open for seconds due to defensive chaos. He dodged Trey Lyes and released the ball before DeMar DeRozan came to block. The shot went right into the hoop, making him the first in NBA history to reach 4,000 triples. James Harden who is second on the list, has made 3,127 triples.

It was also the 11th time for Curry to make at least 250 three-pointers in one season. He drained over 300 triples in one season five times, including knocking down a record 402 during the 2015-16 campaign. He is also the all-time leader in the number of games in which he has made more than seven, eight, nine and 10 triples.

Curry will be celebrating his 37-year-old birthday on Friday.

Other games on the day (winners come first):

Washington Wizards 129-125 Detroit Pistons

Milwaukee Bucks 126-106 Los Angeles Lakers

Chicago Bulls 116-110 Brooklyn Nets

Orlando Magic 113-93 New Orleans Pelicans