New York Liberty guard Sabrina Ionescu made history on Friday afternoon in Las Vegas with an all-time hot streak during the WNBA 3-Point Contest that would have made any gambler jealous. Over and over she spun the ball up to the rim during the championship round, and 25 out of 27 times it landed on make.
But Ionescu’s 20 makes in a row and 37 total points — both 3-Point Contest records for the WNBA and NBA — to claim the trophy were no dumb luck.
“I practice,” Ionescu said. “I practice a lot of these live reps, so I’m able to do it today.”
The fourth-year guard was not a great outside shooter to start her career; prior to this season, she had never shot better than 33.3% from beyond the arc. But after the arrival of Breanna Stewart, Jonquel Jones and Courtney Vandersloot in the offseason, Ionescu has been playing off the ball more than ever and is thriving with all the extra space.
She’s shooting a career-high 44.6% on 7.6 attempts per game, and ranks fourth in the league in 3-point percentage and second in total makes (54). A whopping 83.3% of her 3-point makes this season have been assisted, compared to 63.8% last season when she was often creating for herself and firing off the…
