Insider: How Buddy Hield broke Reggie Miller’s 3-point record with the Pacers
INDIANAPOLIS -- The odd part about the shot that Buddy Hield hit to start the tear that sparked a historic comeback over the Bulls and turned him into the Pacers' franchise record-holder for 3-points in a season is that it really didn't feel good coming off of his hand.
The veteran wing had hit just 10 of his last 32 3-pointers coming into Wednesday night's game against Chicago, including 2 of 11 on Monday night against Utah, bad timing considering he has the All-Star Game 3-point Contest to compete in Saturday night in Salt Lake City. He was also 0 of 2 in the first half, and the Pacers were down 23 points when he took a pass from point guard and friend Tyrese Haliburton beyond the arc at the left elbow. He let fly and could tell it was long and way too far to the left.
But that just happened to be where the glass was. Hield's shot made contact with the backboard right at the top of the window, kissed off of it and splashed directly through the net.
"It was weird," Hield said. "It my first banked 3 all year too. My shot felt weird the last two or three games. Sometimes all you need is one to get a rhythm."
And then suddenly, Hield couldn't miss and neither could the Pacers. He scored 19 points in the third quarter alone, making 6 of 7 field goal attempts and 5 of 6 3-pointers. The Pacers started the quarter by hitting 13 of their first 14 shots, and ended up 15 of 20 in the period, scoring 40 points to ignite a remarkable 117-113 comeback victory in a game they'd trailed by 24 points at the end of the first quarter. It was the largest lead any team had every come back from after one period since 2008.
By the end of the third period, Hield was tied with Pacers legend Reggie Miller for the franchise's record for 3-pointers in a single season with 229, set by Miller in the 1996-97 season. Hield hit the record-breaking 230th with 2:46 to go in the fourth quarter, drilling a 3 that tied the game at 106 after the Pacers had again fallen behind. He finished the evening with 27 points on 8 of 12 shooting including 6 of 10 from 3-point range, and the Pacers needed every single bucket.
"I saw the bank was open," Pacers coach Rick Carlisle said. "It was a rough night up until that point, and we got a little magic there."
Carlisle knows of course, however, that nothing Hield does is the result of magic. Hield is a craftsman. A pro's pro. He's meticulous. Exacting. Even a bit consumed by the desire to be the best shooter he can possibly be. He makes 3s because he's put in the hours to make them.
That's a big reason why Carlisle was so publicly adamant about keeping Hield, who was rumored to be involved in almost as many trades as center Myles Turner. The trade deadline passed last week, Hield was still on the roster with rumors that he might move largely dissipated since November. That gave Hield a chance to break Miller's record -- which now gives him the single-season mark for two franchises, the other being Sacramento with the 282 he hit in the 2020-21 season.
His presence also keeps the Pacers engaged, even as they've suffered through a devastating month in which once legitimate playoff hopes have almost entirely evaporated. Indiana lost 16 of its previous 18 games before Wednesday night, but with a shooter like Hield they still had reason to believe they could come back from a 23-point deficit with 22 minutes of basketball left to play. Even though the Pacers have fallen from sixth place in the Eastern Conference on Jan. 11 to 12th at 26-34 at the All-Star break, Hield is among the players who gives them reason to believe that their season isn't over. His 230 3s not only give him the franchise record with 22 games still left to play, they also lead the NBA at a time when players and teams are taking more 3s than ever before.
"He's obsessed with the art of shooting," Carlisle said. "When you're obsessed with something and you work at it and you have the ability to go along with it, you can change the game. There's a reason he's leading the league in 3-point makes."
Hield said he became obsessive at a young age, not necessarily with shooting specifically, but with developing skill in a grander sense. He grew up poor in the Bahamas, and he also didn't grow up comparatively tall even though he's listed at 6-4 now.
"If you look at all the kids that come from the Bahamas," Hield said, "I'm the least athletic one that ever touched a basketball. Everybody's jumping, dunking, putting the ball in between their legs. I'm the only one who can shoot the ball efficiently. I was blessed with the shot, not with athleticism."
Hield said he honed his skills on a clay court he built himself in his yard because his mother and grandmother wouldn't leave his property. So he spent a long time shooting into a makeshift bucket.
"It was easier for me to shoot, because I was just shooting into a little box," Hield said. "So when I got to the arena, everything was easy. I had arc and it just came natural. As a kid in the Bahamas, there's a lot of weird stuff we do. We throw rocks and try to aim at stuff. Competition and stuff like that. We shoot marbles. It's weird, it just came naturally for me."
But once he came to the United States, he got a sense of how much better he could be. By his sophomore year at Oklahoma he was a fearless shooter, averaging more than seven 3-point attempts per game. As a senior, he averaged 25.0 points per game thanks in large part to the 3-ball. He hit 147 3-pointers that year, knocking them down at a 47.5% clip.
And while he was doing that, he started to take note of the masters, and he went to Oklahoma City Thunder games to see them up close.
"As I got to my college career, I started watching Steph(en Curry) and Klay (Thompson) a lot," HIeld said. "If there's anyone I watch every time they play it's Steph and Klay. Just the volume of shots they get up and the how the team sets screens, the movement they do, the shots they take. Some of the shots they take is ridiculous, but just watching them, just saying, 'Man, the way those guys play and the way they shoot the ball, hopefully I get that way one day.'"
Hield might not be quite at their level but he's far beyond most mortals. He's leading the league in 3s this year in part because Curry has been hurt and Thompson is still working his way back to 100% after injuries took away the 2020-21 season and much of 2021-22. Curry has an NBA record 3,302 career 3-pointers and Hield would have to double his current career total of 1,647 just to get to where he is now. But Hield is still 31st all-time and climbing with an opportunity to move much higher, and he's one of just two players who hold the single-season record for two different franchises, the other being J.J. Redick.
And he still works as if he's just entered the league. He's generally the first one at practice and one of the last to leave, known to shoot by himself without a coach or player development personnel or anyone else to rebound for him.
"He's always in the gym," center Myles Turner said. "Thousands of shots up a day. He's always one of the first ones here. I try to beat him here. It's kind of a competition. He's usually one of the last ones to stay. He takes care of his body. He's a pro's pro, man. He's just good at what he does."
His level of detail reaches the point of being unnerving, at least to those who have to deal with him and aren't invested in his success. Every time he's out on the floor during a break in the action -- before tip-off, before change in quarters, before timeouts, he tries to get his hands on the ball before it's ready for play, sometimes taking it right out of officials hands when they're about to throw it up for tip-off leaving the refs looking occasionally dumbfounded as he runs his hands over it just to get a feel for it before he takes a shot later.
"I know I annoy the refs a lot doing it but when you're on the bench and you're sitting down, your hands are cold," Hield said. "It's Indiana. I'm not used to cold temperatures. When you go to different arenas like Miami and L.A., the ball tends to stick to your hand easily. In cold environments, you gotta test the ball and see how it feels. That's my feeling, feeling comfort with the basketball. That's little things I do to get myself in rhythm, get a little touch. It's weird, but that's how I work with the basketball."
And what he's doing clearly works, well enough for him to likely obliterate a record set by one of the best shooters to ever play the game, and on Wednesday night, enough to spark a historic comeback.
"Buddy is going to go down as a historically great 3-point shooter in this league," Carlisle said. "Passing Reggie Miller for the single-season mark with 22 games to go is a strong statement."
This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Pacers vs. Bulls: Buddy Hield's obsession helps him break record
