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Andrew LopezESPN
Golden State Warriors star Stephen Curry won his second 3-point contest, while Indiana Pacers striker Domantas Sabonis beat Orlando Magic’s Nikola Vucevic in the final round of the skills challenge ahead of Sunday’s NBA All-Star Game.
Curry scored 28 points in the final round of the 3-point competition, hitting his last “cash ball” shot (worth two points) to win a total of 27 from Utah Jazz guard Mike Conley.
“I could hear the temperature go up a little bit,” Curry said of the small crowd’s reaction allowed at the State Farm Arena.
“It was an incredible competition, ” said Curry.” I’m glad I did that. ”
Curry became the seventh player to win several 3-point contests – his first title came in 2015 – and the first to do so in non-consecutive competitions. Larry Bird (1986-88), Craig Hodges (1990-92), Mark Price (1993-94), Jeff Hornacek (1998, 2000 – no contest in 1999), Peja Stojakovic (2002-03) and Jason Kapono (2007 – 08) are the other players to win several 3-point All-Star titles.
Domingo scored Curry’s seventh 3-point contest, drawing him with Dale Ellis for the second-largest participation in NBA history, just behind Hodges’ eight.
Curry had 31 points in the first round to lead the contest. Also advancing were Jayson Tatum of the Boston Celtics, with 25 points, and Conley, who took the spot for Phoenix Suns star Devin Booker in the All-Star Game and in the 3-point competition, with 28.
Tatum led the final round with 17 points, while getting just one shot off the money rack. Conley almost doubled his total in the first round, and it looked like it might be enough until Curry solidified his reputation as one of the best snipers in NBA history.
Zach LaVine of the Chicago Bulls, Donovan Mitchell of Utah and Jaylen Brown of Boston were eliminated in the first round of the 3-point contest. LaVine and Mitchell, both former winners of the dunk contest, were each looking to become the first player to win both the dunk and the 3-point contest.
The All-Star Weekend was originally scheduled to be held at Sabonis’s home arena in Indianapolis, but the coronavirus pandemic forced the NBA to relocate the festivities to Atlanta.
Wearing his shirt with the Pacers theme, Sabonis was able to overcome his second place, winning the 2020 Skills Challenge and also great man Bam Adebayo, from Miami.
“It was fun, ” Sabonis said.” I wanted to go out and make sure I did it this time. ”
The skills challenge featured two guards – star of the Dallas Mavericks, Luka Doncic and Chris Paul of the Phoenix – and four attackers / centrals. Doncic and Paul said goodbye in the first round, while the big guys fought.
However, after Sabonis and Vucevic defeated Julius Randle of the New York Knicks and Robert Covington of the Portland Trail Blazers, respectively, in the first round, each great man passed the guards to advance to the final round.
Each missed two 3-point shots before Sabonis made his third attempt and clenched his fist in victory.
As the events took place shortly before the All-Star Game itself, participants put on their game T-shirts.
Covington, the only non-All-Star in any of the first two events and the only HBCU graduate in the NBA, donned his Tennessee State shirt and announced before the contest that he was donating two $ 25,000 scholarships to students in his alma mater .
The Associated Press contributed to this report.