LOS ANGELES, United States —
Minnesota Timberwolves star Karl-Anthony Towns scored a record 29
points in the final round to capture the NBA All-Star Weekend's Three-Point
Contest, holding off the sharpshooting duo of Trae Young and Luke
Kennard.
اضافة اعلان
Towns' record point total
for a final round placed him just ahead of the Atlanta Hawks' Young and
Los Angeles Clippers' Kennard, who both had 26 points on Saturday night in
Cleveland, Ohio.
First out of the gate, Towns
— a nearly 7-foot center who loomed over his fellow competitors — made four of
his first five attempts en route to the victory.
"I'm super happy to
win," Towns said. "It's great, but I just have such high standards
for myself. ... I'm the biggest critic of myself. There's no writer, no
blogger, no one who could critique and be harsher on their game than me on my
game.
"I thought 30 was what
I was going to need to win in the final round. I was able to scrape by with
29."
Before being reduced to the
three finalists, the three-point lineup consisted of CJ McCollum, Zach LaVine,
Desmond Bane, Fred VanVleet and Patty Mills.
Saturday's events also
included the slam dunk competition and skills challenge.
The
NBA All-Star Game is
Sunday, with the Los Angeles Lakers' LeBron James and Brooklyn Nets' Kevin
Durant captaining the two teams in the showcase event.
In the slam dunk contest,
New York Knicks forward Obi Toppin soared to victory, beating Golden State
Warriors big man Juan Toscano-Anderson.
Toppin iced the victory by
going between the legs and tapping the glass before the dunk, completing an
altered version of his earlier attempt for scores of all 9s and 10s.
Evan Mobley hit a clutch halfcourt
shot as part of the Skills Challenge to lift Team Cavs to the victory.
Team Cavs needed one basket
in the halfcourt shot phase and Mobley drained it. After Jarrett Allen missed,
Mobley swished the team's second attempt. That meant Team Cavs did not need to
use the rest of its attempts.
This was a new event that
featured three three-man teams. It involved shooting, passing, a relay, and a
half-court shooting drill.
On Friday, Cade Cunningham
was named most valuable player of the Rising Stars game as Team Barry defeated
Team Isaiah 25–20 in the final.
The Detroit Pistons'
Cunningham, who was the No. 1 pick in the 2021 draft, scored five points in the
final while teammate and crowd favorite Evan Mobley of the
Cleveland Cavaliers also scored five.
The 37-year-old James will
be playing in his 18th All-Star Game on Sunday, matching Kobe Bryant and moving
within one of the record held by Hall of Famer Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.
This is the third All-Star
Game played in Cleveland, along with 1981 and 1997.
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