How 50 years ago (on September 20, 1973) the well-known tennis
"Battle of the Sexes"
was held in which the legendary Billie Jean King beat Bobby Riggs 6-4, 6-3 and 6-3, captivating to the public that was present at the Houston Astrodome,
now this show comes to basketball and it will be Stephen Curry and Sabrina Ionescu who will star in a highly anticipated clash.
As a prelude to the traditional
All Star Game
, which pits the ideal teams of the two NBA conferences against each other, the Golden State Warriors point guard and the New York Liberty guard
will face each other in the three-point contest
that Curry already won in 2015 and 2021. He will seek to equal Larry Bird (1986, 1987 and 1988) and Craig Hodges (1990, 1991 and 1992) as the only ones to win three times.
Ionescu, meanwhile, won last year among women in what is known in the United States as the
3-point challenge
, establishing an unprecedented record on that occasion: she scored 25 triples out of 27 attempts (92.5% effectiveness ) and went on to score 20 in a row.
She finished with 37 out of 40 possible points.
After finishing the first round with 26 points, the native of Walnut Creek, California, completed an (almost) immaculate final round and thus surpassed Curry himself, who held the combined NBA and WNBA record with 31 points from the 2021.
Sabrina Ionescu (@sabrina_i20) just set the all-time record for NBA or WNBA with a score of 37 PTS in the FINAL ROUND of the #Starry3PT Contest to be crowned the NEW 3-PT CHAMPION 🏆 |
@starrylemonlime pic.twitter.com/YcGy3fDfBq
— WNBA (@WNBA) July 14, 2023
The challenge will replicate the conditions under which they compete in their respective leagues.
That is, Curry will shoot from the NBA three-point line with NBA balls, while Ionescu will do so under the conditions stipulated by the WNBA.
The one from the Golden State Warriors, winner of the ring in the 2014-15, 2016-17, 2017-18 and 2021-22 seasons, is the NBA's all-time leader in triples with 3,577 (42.9% effectiveness), while that the New York Liberty has an average that is close to it (37.7) and her career is clearly on the rise.
A show not to be missed.
All-Star Game schedule
Stephen Curry and Sabrina Ionescu will face each other at the Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis as part of a weekend that will have a lot of basketball to watch.
Friday February 16
NBA All-Star Celebrity Game
NBA Rising Stars Challenge
Saturday February 17
Quiz night
Sunday January 18
NBA All-Star Game at
The teams for the All-Star Game
Eastern Conference
Giannis Antetokounmpo
Tyrese Haliburton
Damian Lillard
Joel Embiid
Jayson Tatum
Western Conference
Lebron James
Luka Doncic
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander
Nikola Jokic
Kevin Durant