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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 skill challenge prior to Sunday’s NBA All-Star Game.
Curry scored 28 points in the final round of the 3-point contest, and nailed his last “money ball” shot (worth two points) to win Utah Jazz goalie Mike Conley’s total of 27.
“I could feel a little bit of how the temperature was rising,” Curry said of the reaction from the small crowd allowed at State Farm Arena.
“It was a fantastic competition,” Curry said. “I’m glad he did.”
Curry became the seventh player to win multiple 3-point competitions (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 who have won several 3-point All Star titles.
Sunday marked Curry’s seventh 3-point contest, tying him with Dale Ellis for the second appearance in NBA history, just behind Hodges ’eight.
Curry added 31 points in the first round to lead the competition. They also advanced Jayson Tatum of the Boston Celtics, with 25 points, and Conley, who took the injured space of Phoenix Suns, the star of Devin Booker, in the All-Star Game contest and 3 points, with 28.
Tatum led the final round with 17 points, while only making one shot from the cash box. Conley nearly doubled his first-round total, and it looked like it might be enough until Curry established his reputation as one of the best 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 winners of the dunk contest, were looking to become the first player to win both the dunk contest and the 3-point contest.
All-Star Weekend was initially scheduled to be held at Sabonis’ home in Indianapolis, but the coronavirus pandemic forced the NBA to move the festivities to Atlanta.
With his Pacers-themed jersey, Sabonis was able to beat his runner-up to the 2020 Skills Challenge winner and Miami big teammate Bam Adebayo.
“It was fun,” Sabonis said. “I wanted to go out and make sure I got it this time.”
The skill challenge featured two guards – the Dallas Mavericks star Luka Doncic and Chris Paul of Phoenix – and four forwards / centers. Doncic and Paul took a goodbye from the first round, while the older men did.
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 older man got 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.
Because the events took place shortly before the All-Star Game itself, participants wore the game shirts.
Covington, the only non-star of 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 would give two $ 25,000 scholarships to students in his alma mater .
The Associated Press contributed to this report.