-
Andrew LopezESPN
Golden State Warriors star Stephen Curry won his second 3-point contest as Indiana Pacers striker Domantas Sabonis overtook Orlando Magic’s Nikola Vucevic in the final round of pre-All -Sunday NBA star.
Curry scored 28 points in the final round of the 3-point contest, putting his last “money ball” (worth two points) to defeat a total of 27 Utah Jazz goalie Mike Conley.
“I could hear the temperature rising a little,” Curry said of the reaction of the small crowd allowed at the State Farm Arena.
“It was a wonderful competition,” Curry said. “I’m glad I did.”
Curry became the seventh player to win more 3-point contests – his first title came in 2015 – and the first to do so in non-consecutive contests. Larry Bird (1986-88), Craig Hodges (1990-92), Mark Price (1993-94), Jeff Hornacek (1998, 2000 – no competition in 1999), Peja Stojakovic (2002-03) and Jason Kapono (2007 – 08) are the other players who win more All-Star titles with 3 points.
Sunday marked Curry’s seventh 3-point contest, tying him with Dale Ellis for the second-largest appearance in NBA history, behind only Hodges’ eight.
Curry had 31 points in the first round to lead the competition. Jayson Tatum of the Boston Celtics also advanced, with 25 points, and Conley, who took the injured place of the 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 making one shot from the money grid. Conley nearly doubled his total in the first round and thought it might be enough until Curry established his reputation as one of the top shooters in NBA history.
Chicago Bulls’ Zach LaVine, Utah’s Donovan Mitchell and Boston’s Jaylen Brown were eliminated in the first round of the 3-point contest. LaVine and Mitchell, both former winners of the dunk contest, each sought to become the first player to win both the dunk contest and the 3-point contest.
All-Star Weekend was originally scheduled to take place at Sabonis’ local arena in Indianapolis, but the coronavirus pandemic forced the NBA to move the festivities to Atlanta.
Wearing his Pacers-themed T-shirt, Sabonis managed to get past his final place in the 2020 Skills Challenge and his great colleague Bam Adebayo from Miami.
“It was fun,” Sabonis said. “I wanted to go out and make sure I made it this time.”
The skill challenge included two goalkeepers – Luka Doncic, Dallas Mavericks star and Chris Paul, Phoenix – and four strikers / centers. Doncic and Paul each said goodbye in the first round, while the older men escaped.
However, after Sabonis and Vucevic defeated Julius Randle, the New York Knicks, and Robert Covington, the Portland Trail Blazers, respectively, in the first round, each big man was reached by the guards to advance to the final round.
Each missed two 3-point shots before Sabonis sank his third attempt and then clenched his fist into victory.
As the events took place shortly before the All-Star Game itself, participants wore their game jerseys.
Covington, the only non-All-Star in any of the first two events and the only HBCU graduate in the NBA, wore the Tennessee State jersey and announced before the contest that he is donating two $ 25,000 scholarships to alma mater students.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.