It came under bittersweet circumstances, but the broader significance of one 76ers’ accomplishment in Wednesday’s loss to the Atlanta Hawks shouldn’t be diminished.
At some point before the regular season ended, JJ Redick was going to set a new single-season franchise record for 3-pointers. That much was virtually a given - simply a matter of when, not if.
Fifteen seconds into what was ultimately a 130-122 setback to the Hawks, Redick matched Kyle Korver’s franchise mark by draining his 226th trey of the year.
About three minutes later, the Sixers’ record was rewritten, as Redick buried the second of his six treys on the night. The sharpshooter’s triple tally for the season now stands at 231, with four contests remaining before the playoffs.
Given that the sting of defeat Wednesday was still raw inside the visitors’ locker room at State Farm Arena, the timing probably wasn’t ideal to broach the subject of the Sixers’ 3-point record with its new owner.
Redick, who found out he had passed Korver when teammates congratulated him after seeing the news on Instagram, obliged nonetheless.
Making Redick’s latest feat all the more noteworthy, at least in our view, is that he’s authored the most prolific perimeter shooting season of his career at such an advanced stage.
Prior to Redick, want to know how many other 34 year olds had hit at least 200 threes in a season? How about none.
[Dale Ellis previously held the distinction of being the oldest player to flirt with 200 3-pointers in a season - he was 36 in 1996-97 when he canned 192 treys for Denver.]
Redick declined to take the bait.
While Redick preferred not to sing his own praises following Wednesday’s performance, his coach and a few of his teammates had no problem doing so.
Below, find a collection of their quotes speaking to Redick’s 3-point achievement, and his multi-layered impact on the Sixers.
Brett Brown
Ben Simmons
T.J. McConnell
Jimmy Butler