Gone are the days when shooters would rely on the usage of the midrange jumper. With major credits to sharpshooters like Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson, and Damian Lillard, the three-point line is utilized like never before. In fact, the Guards aren’t the only player to toss up attempts from a long distance anymore. With offense becoming more rapid than ever before, teams are now in search of big men who can efficiently knock down shots from beyond the three-point arch too. Long before the likes of big men such as Dirk Nowitzki, Karl-Anthony Towns, and Kevin Love would dominate the art of three-point shooting, Charles Barkley once left everyone impressed with a stepback three-pointer during the 1994 Playoff.
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Charles Barkley was an average shooter. Yes, he did finish his career with a 54.1% FG. But the majority of his shots came from in and around the paint. The Round Mound of Rebound shot 73.5% from the charity stripe. Surprisingly, for a big man in the 1990s, Sir Charles attempted far too many 3-pointers. From the 1990-1991 season to the 1996-1997 season, Chuck took 2.7 3-point attempts per game. Granted, he converted a mere 28.9% of those shots. But the fact that he attempted more than 20% of the league’s 3-point attempt average in a game, is crazy in its own right.
Charles Barkley once hit a stepback 3-pointer during a postseason game
The stepback is one of the more common moves in today’s league. However, it wasn’t common practice in the 1990s. In fact, big men even trying out the move was unheard of. Yet, Charles Barkley not only attempted the stepback during the course of the game but also went on to drill down the shot. You can take a look at it in all its wonder, in @AbkTrauma’s tweet.
In this same game, the 6-foot-6 Forward went on to finish the contest with a staggering 56-point, 14-rebound double-double. Further, the Chuckster even recorded 4 assists, 3 steals, a block, and 3 three-pointers made. The historic, stat sheet-stuffing outing by Barkley allowed the Suns to clinch a 140-133 win against the Golden State Warriors.
After sweeping the Warriors in the first round, Barkley and Co. lost to the Houston Rockets, the eventual champions. However, from a shooting standpoint, Barkley had his most successful postseason, connecting 1.4 three-pointers per game.
Barkley’s TNT co-host merely made 1 3-pointer across his 19-year career
Charles Barkley knocked down a respectable amount of three-pointers – 602 – by the end of his career. But, his TNT co-host, Shaquille O’Neal, didn’t find similar success in terms of long-distance shooting.
Shaq often refers to himself as the “Black Steph Curry”, misleading casual NBA fans. Those who closely followed him know that O’Neal is a horrendous shooter. The Big Aristotle was awful from the charity stripe, connecting merely 52.7% of his attempts. Further, O’Neal attempted only 22 shots from the 3-point field goal across his 19-year career. Out of those 22 attempts, “Superman” found the bottom of the net only once.
