Thompson makes a splash
Warriors star wins three-point contest
Toronto — Klay Thompson of the Golden State Warriors beat teammate Stephen Curry to win the three-point contest during NBA all-star festivities Saturday night.
Thompson scored 27 points in the final round, making his last eight shots to beat Curry and Phoenix’s Devin Booker. Curry scored 23 points and Booker finished with16 in the final round.
Curry was the event’s defending champion.
Thompson made19 of his 25 shots in the final round, and that even bettered his 18for-25 showing in the first round. Combine them, and Thompson shot a staggering 74% — 37 for 50 — from long range over the course of the night.
Milwaukee’s Khris Middleton had 13 points in the first round and didn’t advance.
Dunk contest: Minnesota Timberwolves guard Zach LaVine outlasted Orlando’s Aaron Gordon in an epic final round of the dunk contest, posting four straight perfect 50s to win for the second straight year.
LaVine and Gordon matched each other dunk for dunk for the first two tries in the final round. Then needed two rounds of tie-breakers to decide a winner.
Gordon got a 47 with a Harold Miner- style jackknife dunk on his fourth dunk, which opened the door for LaVine in one of the most memorable competitions in years.
He ended it with a between-the-legs dunk from a step inside the free throw line to become just the fourth player to win back-to-back titles.
Skills Challenge: Minnesota Timberwolves rookie Karl
Anthony Towns beat out Boston Celtics guard Isaiah Thomas to win the competition.
Towns, the No. 1 overall pick who stands nearly 7 feet tall, won in the first time the competition was opened up to include front-court players.
Towns wove through an obstacle course, fed a pass through a target, made a layup and a three-pointer to win it.
D-League All-Star Game:
Jimmer Fredette scored 35 points, Jarnell Stokes scored with 37 seconds left to break a tie and put his team up for good, and the Eastern Conference topped the Western Conference, 128-124.
Fredette was named as the game’s MVP.
Former Marquette University standout Vander Blue led the West with 17 points.
Robertson will be honored:
Former Milwaukee Bucks guard Oscar Robertson, a Hall of Famer who forever changed the game of both on and off the court, will be presented the league’s Lifetime Achievement Award on Sunday.
Off the court, Robertson’s impact on the sport was significant. As president of the National Basketball Players Association from 1965-’74, he filed suit against the NBA in 1970 to block the merger of the NBA with the American Basketball Association, to end the option clause that bound a player to a single NBA team in perpetuity, to end the NBA’s college draft binding a player to one team, and to end restrictions on free-agent signings.
On April 29,1976, the NBA’s settlement with the Players Association— known as “The Oscar Robertson Rule” — changed the balance of power in pro sports. This settlement was the first step toward unrestricted free agency in the NBA, and other professional sports soon followed.
Foul rule won’t change soon: NBA Commissioner Adam Silver said no changes are coming to Hack-a-Shaq this season, though he seems to favor some rule adjustment.
“So I think it’s my job right now to at least formulate an alternative to ultimately bring to our board of governors,” Silver said.
Silver said the strategy of intentionally fouling poor shooters away from the ball has increased this season.