Steph Curry emerges victorious over Sabrina Ionescu in the Starry Night Challenge, creating a heartwarming highlight of All-Star Weekend.
Steph Curry, representing the Golden State Warriors, reaffirmed his status as the premier shooter in the world on Friday night. However, Sabrina Ionescu of the New York Liberty gave him a run for his money in a closely contested matchup between the NBA and WNBA’s top marksmen at the NBA All-Star Weekend in Indianapolis.
The tight competition of the Starry Night Contest, the first-ever between a man and a woman in All-Star history, underscored Ionescu’s belief, as she expressed immediately after the contest, that shooting prowess transcends gender: “If you can shoot, you can shoot. It doesn’t matter if you’re a boy or a girl.”
Regrettably, Ionescu’s remarkable performance seemed to be downplayed by one of the TNT analysts, Kenny Smith, who is part of the all-male crew. More on that incident will be discussed later.
Ultimately, Curry tallied 29 shootout points, while Ionescu secured 26 in the single-round competition. This historic him-vs-her shooting contest was a result of Ionescu’s outstanding showing at the WNBA All-Star Weekend the previous summer.
Ionescu, the standout player for the Liberty, kicked off the contest with a strong performance, hitting 7-of-7 shots initially and totaling 26 points, sinking 18-of-27 threes overall. However, she stumbled in the latter part of her attempt, making only 11 of the final 20 shots.
Curry, true to form, displayed his characteristic resilience. Though he started slowly, he excelled under pressure, making 9-of-10 shots towards the end of the contest to secure 29 points. While falling short of his 3-point contest record of 31, his performance was sufficient to clinch victory and claim a championship belt featuring images of two goats, symbolizing the Greatest Of All Time.
