Larry Bird is widely regarded as one of the greatest shooters ever. Stephen Curry is undoubtedly the greatest shooter of all time.
While Bird was an electric scorer for the Boston Celtics during his prime, he was far from a prolific three-point shooter. In his 13-year career with the team, Larry Bird made a total of 649 three-pointers.
Meanwhile, Curry is the all-time leader in made three-pointers with 3,390. That is more than five times the total Larry Legend managed. And in two seasons, namely 2015-16 and 2016-17, Stephen Curry made 402 and 326 three-pointers for a total of 726. In just those two seasons, he had 77 more three-pointers than Bird’s career total.
Despite making and attempting so many three-pointers, the Golden State Warriors superstar has also done it more efficiently than Bird. Steph has a career three-point percentage of 42.8%, while Larry’s is at 37.6%.
It would be easy to look at this data and draw the inference that Steph Curry is vastly better than Larry Bird as a shooter. And while he is certainly in a league of his own, it also has a lot to do with the way the game is played.
For example, Larry Bird made 7,942 two-pointers in his career, while in 14 years of being in the NBA, Curry has made just 4,044. Bird’s overall field goal percentage of 49.6% is also higher than Curry’s 47.5%. Shooting isn’t only about the three-pointer, and these stats put into context why Bird will always be considered one of the best shooters ever.
Larry Bird Has Some Accomplishments That Could Put Him Higher Than Stephen Curry On The All-Time List
Comparing raw data is never the best measure of how two legends stack up against one another, context is also important. Stephen Curry may have won a championship more than Bird did, but Larry Bird has one more Finals MVP to his name, and one more regular season MVP as well. Bird also made nine All-NBA First Teams while Steph has only managed four, and their career comparison shows that it’s tough to claim that Curry is better than Bird on the all-time list.
Another, more fun aspect of this is the three-point contest. Larry Bird won three of those, while Stephen Curry only won twice. And winning that takes a killer mentality as well, which is why our writer Eddie Bitar predicted that Larry Legend would beat Stephen Curry in a shootout of that nature. Curry’s greatness is certainly on a level of its own, nobody has been as consistent or prolific as him from the three-point line, but Larry Bird’s greatness shouldn’t be taken lightly either.
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