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Seven years ago, Duncan Robinson was playing basketball for Williams College, a Division III school in Massachusetts with 2,000 students. On Saturday night, in the Miami Heat’s win over the Cleveland Cavaliers, he became the fastest player to reach 500 3-pointers in NBA history.
Robinson had a typically strong performance, pouring in 20 points on an efficient 7 of 10 from the field, including six 3-pointers. It was his 15th game this season with at least five 3s, and he now has 222 of them for the season, which is good for fourth in the league.
The record-breaking trey came early in the third quarter, as Robinson ran the floor in transition and found some open space on the wing. He caught the pass from Trevor Ariza, took a dribble to settle himself and let it fly. Nothing but net.
Perhaps the most impressive aspect of Robinson’s record is how he set it pretty easily. He needed only 152 games to reach 500 3s, which was 35 games faster than Luka Doncic, the previous record holder. Here’s a look at how he compares to some of the players that came before him.
That list really shows how much the game has changed over the years. Thompson is one of the best shooters of this generation, and Robinson got to 500 3s in 62 fewer games. Going back even further, Larry Bird, widely regarded as one of the best shooters of all time, only made 649 3s in his entire career.
If he keeps up this sort of pace, it’s safe to assume Robinson will soon have some more records in his sights.
As for the Heat, the win improved their record to 34-30 on the season and they kept pace with the teams ahead of them in the Eastern Conference playoff race. They’re now tied with the Boston Celtics for sixth place and the final guaranteed playoff spot, with two games still to play against them. And looking further up the standings, they’re only 1.5 games behind the Atlanta Hawks for fourth place.