ATLANTA — Houston Rockets star James Harden surpassed Stephen Curry of the Golden State Warriors for the most 3-point attempts in a season with his first eight tries Tuesday night against the Atlanta Hawks.
Harden entered the game with 879 attempts, seven behind the 886 Curry attempted during the 2015-16 season. Harden established the attempts mark in going 2-for-3 from beyond the arc in the third quarter. He was 1-of-6 from 3-point range in the first half.
Harden also surpassed Dirk Nowitzki of the Dallas Mavericks on the NBA’s all-time list of 3-pointers made. They were tied for 11th until Harden made his second 3-pointer against the Hawks, giving him 1,961 for his career. Ray Allen is the NBA’s all-time leader with 2,973.
Harden finished Tuesday’s game, a 121-105 Houston win, with 31 points, including 4-of-11 shooting from 3-point range, and he now has 890 3-point attempts, with 316 makes, for the season.
He also became the first player since the league expanded to 30 teams in 2004 to score 30-plus points against all 29 opponents in a single season.
The Rockets have 11 games remaining in the regular season.