OAKLAND, CA - June 3: Stephen Curry #30 of the Golden State Warriors shoots the ball against the Cleveland Cavaliers in Game Two of the 2018 NBA Finals on June 3, 2018 at ORACLE Arena in Oakland, California. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and/or using this photograph, user is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. Mandatory Copyright Notice: Copyright 2018 NBAE (Photo by Noah Graham/NBAE via Getty Images)

Frequency, accuracy, range — whatever variables you focus on, it’s hard to find a parallel for the 3-point shooting of the Golden State Warriors. They are the perfect marriage of skill and chronology, thriving in a time where the evolution they’ve forced has become the dominant paradigm. There are a million eye-popping numbers but how about the fact that Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson and Kevin Durant still have several prime seasons ahead of them and already rank in the top-12 for all time 3-pointers made in the playoffs (Curry may even hold the top spot before this series is over).

Curry nailing a Finals record nine 3-pointers in Game 2 was just the latest exclamation mark at the end of their 3-point shooting story but the way in which he made history is as much a symbol of his uniqueness as the record itself.

Curry made 9-of-17 3-pointers in Game 2 and, six of his made 3s were pull-ups. Curry and Kyrie Irving were the only players in the league this season to make better than 40 percent of at least 200 pull-up 3s. He’s also made 774 pull-up 3s over the past five seasons, shooting better than 40 percent four times and leading the league in total makes three times.

The pull-up 3-pointer has been full weaponized but Curry’s proclivity for walking into them early in the shot clock is one of the things that still separates him from the rest of the league. The Sportradar shot track visualizations below, from NBA Advanced stats, shows Warriors possessions where the shooter was near halfcourt roughly three seconds before the shot was taken.

If we compare that to Curry’s overall shot tracks for the entire game, you can see that five of those six 3-pointers in early offense (all pull-ups) were his (he made 3-of-5).

There is a thought that the most emotionally draining thing for a defense is to defend well for the full shot clock, only to see an opponent drain an impossible shot after all that energy has been expended in futility. I would imagine it’s at least as deflating to see someone score over the top of your set defense before you even have a chance to engage. At least in the former, a defense can take some pride in the process being executed well. In the latter, you are reminded that the process is irrelevant.

This is the magic of Curry and his early offense 3s certainly felt back-breaking for the Cavaliers in Game 2.

Despite missing 31 games during the regular season, Curry finished fifth in the league in 3-pointers made with between four and seven seconds having run off the shot clock (these theoretically constitute true early offense as most 3-pointers attempted quicker than this likely came off offensive rebounds and kick-outs). He shot 43.5 percent on these attempts — the only players with a higher percentage on at least 100 attempts were Will Barton, Bogdan Bogdanovic, and Klay Thompson, who shot a ridiculous 47.9 percent. Together, Curry and Thompson averaged 2.3 made 3-pointers in this shot clock range per game.

The transition 3-pointer is an ever larger part of the NBA landscape but the way the Warriors do it — not running to the 3-point line off the ball, but calmly dribbling into pull-ups — continues to pace the league.