Kyle Korver wanted to say thank you.
He had the attention of the Hawks’ locker room following Friday’s dismantling of the Cavaliers — which will go down in the record books as the game in which Korver set the NBA all-time mark for a 3-pointers in consecutive games, at 90. He had words for his current teammates and coaches. He did not forget the players with the Hawks last season when the streak began.
“I just said thank you,” Korver said in front of his locker surrounded by media members. “I’ve told you a few times, I’m not out there creating the shots. I’m a product of good team basketball, of setting screens and good passes and floor spacing. This wouldn’t have happened without them.”
Korver drained a 25-footer from beyond the arc 6:31 into the first quarter of the game. It came on his third attempt. Philips Arena, in anticipation of the record breaker, erupted in cheers before the ball cleared the netting. For the record, Paul Millsap assisted on the basket.
“I wish I would have had the assist,” point guard Jeff Teague joked after the game. “I wanted to go down in history, too.
“No, I think it was a relief for the whole team. I think you can see at the beginning of the game we were trying to force it to get the ball to him. I think DeMarre (Carroll) passed up a wide-open shot trying to get it to him in the corner. I did the same thing in transition. We were excited for him to do it. It’s a great record.”
As much as Korver appreciated his teammates and coaches, they appreciated him right back. Hawks coach Mike Budenholzer, who has been as reluctant as Korver to talk about the streak, had glowing words for the shooting guard following the game.
“More important than (the 108-89 win) was the great night for Kyle Korver,” Budenholzer said in the opening statement of his postgame press conference. “His teammates are very, very happy for him. And the coaching staff. Mostly because he is a great teammate. He is a person we all enjoy competing with and being around every day. He is a heck of a competitor. He’s a heck of a basketball player. He’s a heck of a shooter.
“For him to do what he did over the course of 90 games, it’s a heck of an effort. We are really pleased for Kyle. We all feel fortunate to be a part of Kyle’s night tonight.”
The streak began unnoticed when Korver made a 3-pointer at Oklahoma City in the Hawks’ second regular-season game last year on Nov. 4. Game by game, the long-range baskets added up. The streak garnered attention when Korver surpassed Mookie Blaylock’s team record of 42 consecutive games with a 3-pointer — a mark that stood since Jan. 11, 1997.
Yet the milestone was still a long way away. He surpassed Dennis Scott’s third-place mark of 78 on Nov. 9 against the Magic. He bested Michael Adams’ second-place mark of 79 on Nov. 11 against the Bobcats. All the stood in the way was Dana Barros’ record of 89 games, a mark that had stood since January 1996.
After pulling to within a game of the record, Korver suffered a bruised rib and missed four games. Before missing the time, he extended the streak by going 1-for-6 against the Magic on Nov. 26, despite having trouble taking deep breaths.
Upon his return he tied the record with a 3-pointer 30 seconds into Wednesday’s win over the Clippers. It set up Friday’s history maker.
The streak is not over.
“Hopefully, we’ll keep it going,” Korver said. “It’s never been about a streak. It’s about making the shots you get. I don’t want to be a high-volume shooter. I try to be efficient. You get a shot and you try to make it. I didn’t even know this streak existed until halfway through last year when people started talking about it. It’s a cool thing. It was never the focus.”
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