Curry rallies to clip Ionescu at All-Star three-point competition

STEPHEN CURRY made four of five shots from the right corner to end his round and overtake Sabrina Ionescu to win 29-26 in the special 3-point competition between two prolific shooters during All-Star Saturday Night in Indianapolis.

Mr. Curry accepted the challenge from the WNBA star to engage in the competition and both players were sharp. Ms. Ionescu, a star for the WNBA’s New York Liberty, started on the left side of the court and made nine of her first 10 shots.

She wasn’t able to keep up the sharp pace and went five of 11 from the right side of the top of the key.

Mr. Curry, the Golden State Warriors’ star, didn’t start as fast as Ms. Ionescu but made up ground by hitting all five shots from the right wing before moving past Ms. Ionescu from the right corner.

In the regular 3-point shooting contest, Damian Lillard of the Milwaukee Bucks prevailed for the second straight year. He is the first repeat winner since Jason Kapono of the Toronto Raptors won in 2007-08.

Mr. Lillard compiled 26 points in the final round, edging 2022 champion Karl-Anthony Towns of the Minnesota Timberwolves and Trae Young of the Atlanta Hawks. Both Mr. Towns and Mr. Young had 24 points.

The competition went down to the wire as Mr. Lillard had 24 points as he went to the left corner for the rack of five balls. He missed the first four shots before sinking the winner on his last attempt.

Lillard, Towns, Young and Tyrese Haliburton of the Indiana Pacers all made 26 in the first round — a fourway tie for the three spots. A 30-second tiebreaker was held and Mr. Haliburton was eliminated.

Lauri Markkanen (25 points) of the Utah Jazz, Jalen Brunson (24) of the Dallas Mavericks, Donovan Mitchell (21) of the Cleveland Cavaliers and Malik Beasley (20) of the Bucks were eliminated in the first round.

In the Skills Challenge, Team Pacers won in a halfcourt shot tiebreaker over Team All-Stars.

Mr. Haliburton sank a halfcourt shot with 20.5 seconds left in the 60-second overtime to give Team Pacers the win. Myles Turner and Bennedict Mathurin were the other members. —