Los Angeles (United States) (AFP) – Damian Lillard, out all season while recovering from a torn left Achilles tendon, matched a record by winning his third career NBA Three-Point Contest on Saturday. Having received special approval from the league to participate, the 35-year-old Portland Trail Blazers guard beat Phoenix’s Devin Booker 29-27 in the final.
“In a season where I’m not participating, the league allowing me to come in and do something like this to get some competition, feel a little bit of pressure, to get in front of the fans again, it was a great experience,” Lillard said. Lillard was injured in last year’s playoffs while with Milwaukee, then waived by the Bucks and signed by the Trail Blazers, for whom he played in his first 11 NBA campaigns.
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Showing the same solid form that made him one of the NBA’s top long-distance shooting threats, Lillard added the 2026 Three-Point crown to his 2023 and 2024 triumphs to match the event win record shared by Larry Bird and Craig Hodges. “That’s all I do it for, to keep adding to my legacy, adding to my reputation and being who I am,” Lillard said. “I was given the opportunity and I came out and took advantage of it.”
Lillard shot last in the opening round, where eight players sought one of three spots in the final. Charlotte rookie Kon Knueppel shot first and reached the final with 27, 2018 Three-Point winner Booker, the penultimate shooter, fired 30 and Lillard fired 27 — hitting five in a row on the left wing — to advance over Cleveland’s Donovan Mitchell, who had 24.
“You’ve got to just let the ball fly and trust your instincts as a shooter,” Lillard said. “You can’t be rattled when somebody else gets hot or when the crowd gets loud…you’ve just got to shoot and do you and that’s what I show up and do.” In the final, Knueppel opened with 17 points, Lillard sank his final shot from the baseline to finish on 27, and Booker missed his last three from the baseline, any of which would have tied Lillard.
“I was praying on his downfall,” Lillard admitted. “Coming in I could see it being me, Book and Kon at the end. I knew it would be stiff competition. He was in position. It just took for a couple of shots to rattle out, but that’s how it goes sometime.”
In the NBA Slam Dunk Contest, Miami’s Keshad Johnson won the title with 97.4 points after a windmill dunk in the final round. San Antonio rookie forward Carter Bryant delivered a ball between the legs, one-handed slam for a perfect 50 points in his first finals dunk. But Bryant repeatedly missed his final dunk, a between the legs and off the backboard reverse slam. Not even advice from retired NBA dunk legend Vince Carter could help, and after a final miss rimmed out, Bryant made a 360-degree dunk before time ran out but scored only 43 points and couldn’t overtake Johnson.
In other NBA All-Star Saturday festivities, the Shooting Stars competition went to Team Knicks, consisting of New York’s Jalen Brunson and Karl-Anthony Towns and former Knicks star Allan Houston.
© 2024 AFP
