BARCLAY CENTER, BROOKLYN, NEW YORK — The Golden State Warriors trumpeted, #SplashBrothers-dubbed backcourt of Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson lived up to its reputation tonight and redeemed the sub-par performance from last year’s Saturday festivities.
There was high anticipation for the #FootLockerThree-Point Contest, featuring perhaps the best three-point shooters ever assembled for a shootout.
First, all of the shooters gathered around and got ready:
Curry, the clear fan favorite, didn’t disappoint in his first round, getting a 23 score, tying ex-champion Kyrie Irving for the lead:
Then it was Thompson’s turn and he one-upped Curry, getting on a hot streak and tallying a 24:
The next and final round came down to the #SplashBrothers against themselves, after Irving posted a less-than-spectacular opening score of 17. Curry hit 13 straight, to net an impressive 27:
Klay couldn’t answer, as he bricked a few in the middle-to-late racks:
But he gave Curry a nice congratulatory hug and was all smiles at the post-game media scrum, although deep down he admitted there was certainly competitive fire in not winning:
“It was setup perfectly for me. I just had to execute,” Thompson said, “He put on a great show. That’s what he does.”
Will Klay try again?
“I’m excited to do it again. I’ll probably be a little ticked I didn’t get it, because you always expect such high expectations for yourself, but that’s basketball, man. I was happy that I even got to participate,” Thompson said.
“It’s kind of cool for all of #DubNation have a 50-50 shot of one of us winning, bringing it back to the Bay Area,” Curry said, “Couldn’t have planned that any better.”
The were throngs of media surrounding Thompson in the so-called “Mixed Zone” where, in an effort to conserve limited space, non-winning players go against a wall for the interviews. Someone with the NBA’s PR department felt it might be good to move Klay to go after Curry, as Curry was expected in the Press Conference Room as the winner, but later that didn’t happen, as it was determined best to just have Curry.
Curry said that he’d positioned the ball racks to all be on his right side and the strategy paid off, after admitting that he watched some of the previous winners on NBA TV. “That might’ve been the secret I’ve been waiting for.”
He was also wary of Thompson following him up, even though Steph had posted a relatively high score (27). And no, they did not bet each other!
Monte Poole of CSN Bay Area:
“Klay Thompson is right behind me – no way,” Curry said. “I knew I had done pretty well, obviously, finishing strong with that second round.
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“But Klay, I looked in his eyes. He’s capable of (scoring) 37 in a quarter, so he can probably knock down a couple threes and hit a high number.”
When asked if this championship revealed the best shooter in the NBA, Curry replied, “I want to be,” although he acknowledged the strength of the field on more than one occasion.
“I wanted to be a part of that group and thankfully, I won.”
After the obligatory press conference, TNT then Poole got their chances to have Curry on the air on Comcast. Then Larry Beil of KGO followed that up. During all of that time, the #SpriteSlam Dunk Contest had already begun and Zach Lavine had posted his first 50 score, drawing oohs from the reporters that were glued to a TV screen on the other side of the room.
“Can someone re-enact that, please?” said an eager Curry, ready to become a front-row spectator for the slam dunks.
As Curry continued with his commitment to Beil, Steph’s wife Ayesha Curry joked, “Stephen! Can we go watch now?”
But she knew the deal, and Curry finished up with Beil.
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