2019 NBA All-Star Game: Joe Harris wins 2019 MTN DEW 3-Point Contest

The 2019 NBA All-Star Game festivities continued with Steph Curry igniting his hometown crowd, but Joe Harris walked away as the 2019 MTN DEW 3-Point Contest champion.

As the 2019 NBA All-Star Game is approaching the primer to the big event took place on Saturday night. The 2019 MTN Dew 3-Point Contest was the 33rd year the competition took place, it marked the first year for the event’s new partnership with MTN DEW. Past sponsors include Verizon and Sprite. For the sixth consecutive year, the ‘money ball’ rack returned.

In recent years the 3-Point Contest has become the marquee event of State Farm All-Star Saturday night. It’s no surprise this season was no different, given the league average for three-point attempts is at an all-time high 31.5 per game. If the average holds, this season will mark the first instance in history the league average has eclipsed 30 3-Point attempts per match.

Prior to the event, NBA.com/stats put together a jam-packed infographic. Some of the interesting stats revealed were, reigning 3-Point Champion Devin Booker is the only contestant shooting zero percent in one of the five shooting zones. Brooklyn marksmen Joe Harris is the only player in the MTN DEW 3-Point contest shooting over 50 percent in three of the five zones.

And, third-year shooting guard Buddy Hield is the only player in the field shooting 42.9 percent or better in all five zones. With that, let’s review all the contestant’s and results from the 2019 MTN Dew 3-Point contest.

The contestants

• Devin Booker, (2018 winner), Suns – season average of 32.5%
• Seth Curry, Blazers – season average of 46.5%
• Stephen Curry, Warriors – season average of 44.4%
• Danny Green, Raptors – season average of 42.1%
• Joe Harris, Nets – season average of 47.1%
• Buddy Hield, Kings –  season average of 44.9%
• Damian Lillard, Blazers –  season average of 37.3%
• Khris Middleton, Milwaukee Bucks –  season average of 37.8%
• Dirk Nowitzki, Mavericks –  season average of 30.9%
• Kemba Walker, Hornets –  season average of 36.2%

Round 1 scores

• Stephen Curry, 27
• Buddy Hield, 26
• Joe Harris, 25
• Devin Booker, 23
• Danny Green, 23
• Damian Lillard, 17
• Dirk Nowitzki, 17
• Seth Curry, 16
• Kemba Walker, 15
• Khris Middleton, 11

Final Round

• Joe Harris, 26
• Stephen Curry, 24
• Buddy Hield, 19

Joe Harris became the first Brooklyn Nets player to win the MTN DEW 3-Point Contest. Prior to tonight, the Nets were one of 14 teams that had never had a 3-Point Champion. Harris’s 3-Point championship continued a promising season for the Nets, who currently sit sixth in the Eastern Conference.

A trend that emerged during the contest was contestants favored placing their money ball rack as their final rack. Middleton and Nowitzki were the exceptions, they chose to position their money ball rack at the top of the key.

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The placement worked out best for the eventual champion Harris, he was the only player to go a perfect 10-10 on money balls.

On a lighter note, Seth and Steph placed a bet on which brother would win, with the loser having to buy the winner’s family tickets to attend their games for the rest of their careers. Neither brother won, so there is no definitive word on how they will settle the wager, but Steph did joke about it during his presser.

Overall it was an exciting event and hometown mogul Steph Curry nearly stole the show for his second 3-Point Championship. However, for one night, Harris was the NBA’s best 3-point marksmen.

Sunday the main event takes center stage as the 2019 NBA All-Star Game occurs with OKC Thunder stars Paul George and Russell Westbrook participating.