On March 13, 2025, Golden State Warriors superstar Steph Curry became the first player in NBA history to make 4,000 3-point shots. While this goal seems fairly arbitrary, and it is, 4,000 3-pointers made is something most of us will never achieve in our lifetimes even though none of us play in the NBA.
Portrait of an Artist: Stephen Curry is a documentary focusing primarily on one evening in the life of Stephen Curry, future Hall-of-Famer. On this night, Steph Curry’s Warriors take on the Sacramento Kings. Curry starts the game a 3,998 3-pointers made. The documentary will go heavily into the minutiae of how Steph has gotten himself to this fairly arbitrary goal. Arbitrary or no, Steph Curry is arguably the greatest shooter in NBA history and has four rings to show for his team-concentrated efforts. Hence, even though the topic is kinda meh, the subject deserves the attention.
Some things worth note at this moment: 1) Stephen Curry has played for the Golden State Warriors his entire pro career. He comes from NBA stock; his father Dell Curry was a notable player in the 80s and 90s. Not an all-star, perhaps, but notable. The best parts of this documentary, to me, are the flashbacks of Steph as a child, as a high schooler, as a collegian at Davidson U. Colleges didn’t take him seriously despite the pedigree. The NBA is for very large men. Steph is not overly large, and it often looks like a strong wind will him over. 2) The 3-point shot was not instituted in the NBA until 1979, and it wasn’t taken seriously as game strategy until this century. Until Steph showed up, I would have considered Larry Bird the greatest shooter in NBA history. Bird made a paltry 649 career 3-pointers. 3) Three of the top-10 3-point shooters in NBA history played on the same team at the same time. Steph Curry is #1. Klay Thompson is #4 (2,899 as of this writing), and Kevin Durant is #10 (2,377). Curry, Thompson, and Durant played together for three seasons. They won two championships, and probably would have won a third had injuries not destroyed their NBA finals against the Toronto Raptors. Warrior big man Draymond Green has 843 career 3-pointers. Nobody on the planet imagines Green is a better shooter than Larry Bird, but Green has almost 200 more career treys. The game has changed considerably. This is not to dwarf Curry’s accomplishment; I simply say his four rings are more impressive and more important.
One wonders exactly how many 3-pointers Steph has made in his lifetime given that he’s made 4,000 in NBA games alone. Whaddaya figure? 100 made for every one in an NBA game? 1,000? I put the conservative estimate at one million. I mean, think of how many shots you have to take to get your form as spot-on-perfect as that of Steph Curry. That’s not “one afternoon” at the gym. Heck, the documentary itself tells us Mr. Curry re-tooled his natural shot for three months. Three full months of frustration to come up with the exact form that would make him the greatest shooter the NBAhas ever seen. Thousands of shots taken every.single.day until it all becomes rote. Chapter II of this film is called “THE WORK,” and we get just a small taste of what it took for Steph
Curry to go from undersized punching bag to the best player and leader of a multiple championship-winning team.
The footage of the game itself is almost comically underwhelming. There is a bunch of isolated footage early on of Curry being defended tightly by Kings forward Keegan Murray who stands almost half-a-head taller than Curry. The camera is interested in the match-up while the game is close. However, the Warriors end up winning by 26 and Curry -who has had a history of ankle troubles in his career- pulls up lame in the second half. The team essentially lets him get his record, and then benches him for the remainder. It would be cliché if any of us actually cared about the outcome of the game itself.
Portrait of an Artist: Stephen Curry intersperses the live game play are other artists describing their particular calling. Can we call Steph an artist? Yes, I think that’s fair. His devotion to craft and his stunning array of brilliant performances do suggest an artist. And, yes, not all athletes are artists; most are just athletes. But if you truly consider what it takes to be an artist, you might find Steph Curry belongs in that category. Oh, and FWIW, Stephen Curry is a really nice guy. Larry Bird is an asshole. That shouldn’t matter, but it does. I dunno that this film will do anything for people who don’t love basketball or the Golden State Warriors, and -even as a Warrior fan- I found it a tad lacking. I would love to have seen more about how Steph’s artistry helped obtain four championship rings. Lord knows 75 minutes is a short run-time; they certainly could have padded with more Curry careers highlights. But Steph Curry being celebrated on an IMAX screen was worth my attention.
There was once a shooting guard named Curry
Who could score tons of points in a hurry
His specialty, when sought
Shots from the parking lot
Making the Warriors attack one of fury
Rated PG-13, 74 Minutes
Director: Gotham Chopra
Writer: Sean Horvath
Genre: Nuclear physics. Seriously, what do you think?
Type of being most likely to enjoy this film: Golden State Warriors fans
Type of being least likely to enjoy this film: If you don’t like sports, this is probably not the film for you
