Let's get our facts straight about what happened with Korver during the 09-10 season. During 07-08, Korver took 6.3 threes per 36 minutes and hit .388. The next season, he took only 5.1 threes per 36 minutes and hit .386 -- so he was already being more, let's say, "conservative". Korver had the option to become a free agent during the summer, but opted-in for another season with the Jazz -- for only 5.1 million, a bargain. Probably, at that point, Korver knew there was something wrong with his left knee, so it would not make sense for him try and sign a new contract in the open market. He actually had a bone spur and had surgery to remove it a day before the start of the 09-10 regular season. Because of this, his first game was the Jazz 24th, on december, 14th. He started very slowly and barely played in december (only 5 games, 9 minutes per game). In january, though, he got "hot" and took 5.8 threes per 36 minutes and hit an incredible .643. In february, though, he became more "conservative" with his shot: 4.2 three-point attempts per 36 minutes, while hitting .560. He became even a little more "conservative" in march: 3.9 three-point attempts per 36 minutes, while hitting .500. Korver took 6 threes in the last game of march and hit 3 of them. At that point, if the season just ended, he would have the new three-point field goal percentage for a regular season. There were still 6 games left, though, and Korver struggled mightly. I think he was nervous. He took only 3.3 three-point attempts per 36 minutes, while hitting "only" .364. He was struggling so much that his overall FG% was .313 -- for those last 6 games. Nevertheless, in the antepenultimate game of the season, Korver took 7 threes in 34 minutes, hitting 3 of them. A solid display! In the last two games of the season, though, he played a combined 41 minutes and TOOK ONLY ONE three-point shot, missing it. He finished the season with a .536 3pFG%, above Steve Kerr's .524, a new record. Three more misses would have kept Kerr's record. The Jazz lost the last game of the season, at home, against the Suns. Thus, the Suns finished with a 54-28 record, and the 3th seed in the West, while the Jazz finished 53-29 and the 5th seed. Naturally, people blamed Korver. The Jazz ended up beating the fourth-seeded Nuggets in 6 games -- Korver took 4.2 three-point shots per 36 minutes, while hitting .375. The Jazz were swept by the Lakers in the next round, and Korver took 3.4 threes per 36 minutes, hitting .714.
What can we make of all these? First of all, Korver was more "conservative" than usual during the whole season -- I think that was the reason he was in a position of challenging for the record in the first place. It was clear, though, that as the season progressed he would be taking less and less three-point shots, culminating in only one attempt in the last two games. Was he JUST protecting his record? Probably not during the whole season, but certainly during the last two games of the regular season. Actually, I think that by the beggining of march he got tired. At that point, he had a sequence of 6 games without either a steal or a block. Of course those are not his forté, but steals and blocks usually demand energy and the fact that he was not getting them probably should indicate his tiredness. Tired, Korver thought it would not be possible for him to keep his percentages at a level that would garantee the record, so he shot less. Since he was tired, though, shooting less was also a normal reaction. Was he wrong? At the very end of the regular season I think so, because he was not doing his job anymore.