AIR CANADA CENTRE, TORONTO, ON — The Golden State Warriors‘ fabled backcourt shooting duo Klay Thompson and Stephen Curry were the last two standing in this year’s NBA All-Star Three-Point Contest, and Thompson surpassed Curry’s point total, 27-23, on the final rack to win it.
Thompson was the first shooter and set the bar high with a 22, hitting his first four shots before missing…
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Here was the full round for him:
.@KlayThompson was on fire! #FootLockerThree https://t.co/rq34FfX18G
— NBA on TNT (@NBAonTNT) February 14, 2016
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Klay had told reporters two weeks ago that his strategy would include making eight out of ten on the corner shots, but despite the decent score, showed frustration after going just 6-for-10 in the opening round.
However, the score of 22 was good enough to be the highest going into the final round. The other participants scored as follows:
- Khris Middleton: 13
- J.J. Redick: 20
- James Harden: 20
- Devin Booker: 20
- C.J. McCollum: 14
- Kyle Lowry: 15
Curry, the defending champion, went last in the first round.
Curry missed his first three shots, but then hit 12 of his next 13. Going into the last rack of all money balls (worth two points instead of just one), Steph had an impressive 18, but missed his first three shots, then with just 3.6 seconds remaining, canned his last two to post a 21, good enough to advance:
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The nail-biting feat drew this reaction from Thompson:
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The 21 score also forced Harden, Booker, and Redick into a tiebreaker as the third contestant for the final round. Booker won the thirty-second tiebreaker, scoring a 12 to best Redick’s 9 and Harden’s 8.
With the lowest score heading into the final round, Booker went first and posted a 16.
Curry was, of course, next.and scored a 23, hitting his last six shots:
T-Mac & Ludacris are impressed #FootLockerThree https://t.co/211NGz3myR
— NBA on TNT (@NBAonTNT) February 14, 2016
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The respectable 23 could have meant added pressure to Thompson, but he hit eight in a row between racks two and three, missed the next three, then made the last three of the second-to-last fourth rack.
He had a score of 17 going into the final rack.
He finished making every shot in the last rack to post an dominating 27, which crowned him champion of the 2016 Foot Locker Three-Point Contest.
.@Klaythompson seals the deal in #FootLockerThree Point Contest https://t.co/bBVyPeQX4p
— NBA on TNT (@NBAonTNT) February 14, 2016
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Thompson’s 27 tied Curry’s from last year for the best score in Three-Point Contest history, although the format was changed in 2014 to include a rack consisting entirely of money balls (whereby the maximum score went up from 30 to 34).
On both final racks for Curry, it seemed he might have been in a bit of a hurry, but he told LetsGoWarriors, “It didn’t bother me, though. I purposely took my time in the first to kind of get in a rhythm.
“Just need a couple more early to beat him, but I didn’t get it.”
“Not gonna lie, I got nervous when he hit his first eight,” said Thompson. “I didn’t think he was going to miss.”
The Warriors became the first team in the history of the Three-Point Contest to have two different players win the event in consecutive years (via Warriors PR).
Check out the post-Shootout reactions below, plus more quotes…
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RFEDedKi944&w=560&h=315] [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rPTSrsXFkEw&w=560&h=315] [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KExVf3ZPRwQ&w=560&h=315]More quotes:
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Klay said lil bro Trayce will say he got lucky and Kevin Hart made a Willis Reed comeback on Draymond. pic.twitter.com/k6oybV3OE2
— LetsGoWarriors (@LetsGoWarriors) February 14, 2016
- “‘Once he turned the corner on that final rack,’ Curry said of when he knew Thompson, his Warriors Splash Brother, was going to win the All-Star 3-Point Contest on Saturday night. ‘That’s right in his wheelhouse.’
…
‘I’m proud of myself,’ Thompson said, adding he will give his trophy to his father, who has a collection of awards from his three sons. ‘I grew up always watching these things. I wanted to knock this off the bucket list. I was going to go every year until I retire. I didn’t care if I had broken knees, I was still going to try to get this.’
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Last year, Curry made 13 straight and finished with a score of 27. This year, he started hot and cooled off midway through his final round. He finished strong to get to 23, enough to put the pressure on Thompson, the final shooter.” — Marcus Thompson, Bay Area News Group
(Photo: @letsgowarriors Instagram account via @nba)
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