SAN FRANCISCO – Buddy Hield took ball off after ball from the last rack, and as each shot swished through the net, the home crowd cheered on the Warriors’ only contestant in the NBA’s 3-Point Contest on All-Star Saturday night.
Hield missed only one shot off that final rack, and he made his grand finale “money ball,” but he was still a point shy of celebrating.
Instead, the Miami Heat’s Tyler Herro won with 24 points, and the difference was he made his final two shots to open the final round.
Oakland native Damian Lillard, the event’s two-time defending champion, did not advance out of the first round. The last of eight competitors, Lillard started off by making five consecutive shots, only to miss five in a row, then coming up a point shy of advancing.
Wedged between the Skills Challenge and the Dunk Contest, the 3-Point Contest lacked the exhilaration found a year ago on All-Star Weekend, when Lillard won his second straight title and Steph Curry edged WNBA star Sabrina Ionescu in a separate challenge.
Curry, who won this shootout in 2015 and ’21, did not host Ionescu in an encore this weekend, nor did he compete in Saturday’s shootout. Following a trophy presentation to Herro, fans finally got a glimpse of the NBA’s all-time leading 3-point shooter: Curry, who was introduced on the videoboards while sitting courtside before the ensuing Dunk Contest.
“It means a lot. I feel like a lot of great shooters, a lot of great players, some of the greats to play this game have won this award — not award, this competition,” Herro said. “Just happy to put my name in the history books for All-Star Weekend.”
At least Hield gave the hometown crowd something to cheer about Saturday night. Earlier in the Skills Challenge, the Warriors’ Draymond Green and Moses Moody lost to the Cleveland Cavaliers’ Evan Mobley and Donovan Mitchell.
Hield, the penultimate shooter of Saturday’s first round, took the lead with 31 points. He made eight consecutive shots at the top of the arc, and closed with three successful 3-point attempts to eliminate New York’s Jalen Brunson.
Herro said of his night: “I was definitely nervous going into the first round. But I thought I shot it pretty well in the second round, and then Buddy had the chance to tie it at the end. Obviously a great competition, a bunch of great shooters. Like I said, just happy to be here.”
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