Smith, rookie squad falter in Skills final
SALT LAKE CITY — Somewhere, someone that was hanging on the results of the NBA’s Skills Challenge had to be shaking their head.
As if the Rockets’ past two seasons had not provided ample evidence of how difficult it is for young players to win, in the revamped skills competition on Saturday, the Rockets’ Jabari Smith Jr. and his fellow rookies, Jaden Ivey and Paolo Banchero, were done in by, of all things, a rookie mistake.
The rookies had moved into the third and final round tied with the Jazz for the lead, having won the ballhandling round. The Jazz won in passing. That pushed the win of the competition to the shooting round.
The rookies clanged their way around the court, Banchero making only the mid-range floater worth the fewest points possible.
The Jazz team of Jordan Clarkson, Walker Kessler and Collin Sexton easily won the round and the Skills Challenge.
The rookies, however, questioned their own strategy, oddly choosing to take the toughest shots, rather than pile up points with the shots they were more likely to make.
“Man, we were definitely trying to win,” Smith said. “We couldn’t make shots. But I had fun.
“It comes down to what you do every day. That’s how we lost it. If I was to do it again, I feel like we’d have a different strategy. We settled for the 3-ball a lot. We should have taken some easy ones. We shouldn’t have started in. That was our strategy. We didn’t plan to miss that much, though.”
The rookies got off to a fast start. They set up their relay team in order of fast, faster, fastest — Banchero to Smith to Ivey. Though Banchero and Smith each missed all three of their 3s, and Ivey missed his first two, rendering the third attempt meaningless since only three attempts are required. But Smith and Ivey went end to end and through the obstacle course as rapidly as any of the nine participants.
With that, the rookies won the relay portion of the Skills challenge with a time of 1:14.8.
In the Team Passing round, each team member must complete each of the three passing targets in 30 seconds with the score determined by the number of accurate passes. Smith missed his first two passes, but he and his teammates put together an extended run, closing the gap on the Antetokounmpos, falling just short, 84-78.
The Jazz topped that score, getting an 88 to earn 100 challenge points to tie the rookies heading into the final round,
team shooting.
In that round, players must take turns shooting from five spots, ranging from mid-range to a long 3, with greater points awarded for shots with greater difficulty.
The Antetokounmpos — Alex, Thanasis and Jrue Holiday, who filled in for the injured Giannis — made enough shots
for just eight points. But that was enough to tip the misfiring rookies, if not to come close to topping the Jazz team with homecourt advantage — and shooters that put the ball in the basket.
Still, Smith could not stop smiling.
“Great experience, something I’ll be looking forward to every year of my career,” he said of playing in the Rising Stars on Friday and Skills Challenge on Saturday. “I want to be in this the rest of my career. That’s the plan.”
Next time, he won’t be a rookie, having collected yet another lesson from the experience.
McClung slams competition
K.J. Martin’s dunks were suitably spectacular. The crowd approved. His father, Kenyon Martin, made a cameo. It was not enough.
Nothing would have been the way Mac McClung so completely stole the show and won the first Julius Erving award as the dunk champion.
McClung scored a 50 on three of his four dunks and came one point from one judge — Lisa Leslie — from going four-for-four.
With that, the player who was largely unknown before the night began, having spent the season in the G League before signing a two-way contract with the 76ers on Tuesday, topped the Rockets player who proudly carries the recognizable name of his All-Star father.
Martin, however, knew all about McClung before he put on a show.
“I’ve seen his dunks since high school,” Martin said. “He’s talented. He can jump for sure, especially for his size (6-2).”