The NBA 2017 All-Star JBL 3-point competition was expected to be a show down between last year’s winner and a previous winner, but the script didn’t match the outcome.
NBA All-Star 2017 JBL 3-Point Competition:
Much like the Toronto 2016 slam dunk competition set a high bar for level of competition, so too did the 3-point competition. In fact, until Aaron Gordon and Zach LaVine put on the never ending dunk off the 3-point competition had become the marquee event over the past few All-Star weekends.
The show the Splash Brothers put on in the 6ix had the crowd energized leading into the dunk competition.
Heading into the event most pundits earmarked returning champion Klay Thomspon as the prohibitive favorite. After round one however, it was certain a new champion would be crowned.
Related: Reviewing NBA All-Star 2017 Celebrity Game
The Participants:
- Klay Thompson of the Warriors began the evening as the defending champion and was seeking to become the first player since Jason Kapono (2007-08) to repeat. When the participants were announced his efficiency ranked fourth on the list in efficiency, but by the time of the break had catapulted to the top of the list with a 42.2% efficiency from deep.
- Kyle Lowry of the Raptors leads the NBA in 4-point plays this season and has a three-point shooting efficiency of 41.7% percent.
- Kemba Walker of the Hornets brings a three-point shooting efficiency of 39.5% percent to the competition.
- Eric Gordon has reinvented himself with the Rockets and returns to the Smoothie Center with a three-point shooting efficiency of 38.5% percent to the competition.
- C.J. McCollum and Blazers teammate Damian Lillard are likely feeling the All-Star snub and many picked him as the dark horse in the competition. McCollum’s three-point shooting efficiency is 41.1% percent.
- Kyrie Irving won the event in 2013, and makes his fourth appearance. Although his 38.9% efficiency is one of the lower ones he’s was picked by many pundits as the dark horse given his ability to deliver in the clutch.
- Wes Matthews of the Mavericks brought the lowest three-point shooting efficiency of 38.1% percent to the competition.
- Nick Young of the Lakers brings his ‘Swaggy P’ swagger to the three-point event and boasts a shooting efficiency of 41.3% percent.
Related: NBA 2017 All-Star Weekend Itinerary
The Set Up:
Eight contestants shoot from five locations on the court. Five racks contain six balls with the last ball being worth two points. This ball is referred to as the ‘money ball’ and one of the five racks contains all money balls. The player determines which area of the court this rack will be positioned. Each participant has one minute to get up their 30 shots. The top three scores move on to round two and barring a tie the highest score determines the winner. In the event of tie in any round the players play an additional round to break the tie.
Round 1:
- Walker: 19
- Irving: 20
- Matthews: 11
- Gordon: 25
- Young: 18
- McCollum: 10
- Lowry: 11
- Thompson: 18
None of the players who shot in the second group moved on to the second round. This was significant as it eliminated the reigning champion and some of the players with better shooting averages from the field.
Round 2:
- Walker: 17
- Irving: 20
- Gordon: 20
Tie Break Round:
Irving:18
Gordon: 21
3-Point Competition Winner: Eric Gordon
Related: Where does Westbrook not starting in the ASG rank among historical snubs?
OKC Thunder Participants:
More from Thunderous Intentions
- Stealing one player from every Southwest Division team for the OKC Thunder
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- 3 OKC Thunder players who can step up in Aleksej Pokusevski’s absence
- Aleksej Pokusevski sidelined approximately 6 weeks with ankle injury
- Damian Lillard does not fit with the OKC Thunder
Although OKC Thunder had no participants in the events Saturday night there are four players in New Orleans. Domantas Sabonis and Alex Abrines. were part of the winning World Team in the BBVA Compass Rising Stars Game. For more information on how the rookies did catch Alexander Seibel’s article here.
Also in New Orleans is a member of the Oklahoma City Blue (the Thunder D-League squad) Dakari Johnson who participated in the NBA D-League All-Star Game. Tony Heim covered the recap from this event earlier today which can be found here.
The fourth and most important OKC player in town has created arguably the biggest stir based on his refusal to be baited into a sound bite. Russell Westbrook was in action today when the West Team practiced, but surely wasn’t talking fashion with his West Coast teammates.
Weekend’s Best All-Star Competitions Found on TI:
As far as the Saturday night festivities went, on a whole New Orleans paled in comparison to the show put on in Toronto. Perhaps that should have been expected given the year after Vince Carter’s electrifying slam dunk performance it was years until another Saturday evening measured up.
For now, the best competition this weekend, at least in this scribe’s opinion, came courtesy of Thunderous Intentions fans and writers. Fans voted on their favorite Thunder player dunks (here’s the entire dunk contest). And, writer Eric Snyder offered the weekend’s best when he speculated on pitting Russell Westbrook versus Kevin Durant in a WWE or UFC battle.