But before the “honor Kobe’s final all-star appearance Sunday” was Saturday night’s skills, three-point-shooting and dunk contests, with the Golden State Warriors three all-stars, reigning MVP Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson and Draymond Green, participating.
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Who won? The guy President Obama said has a prettier shot than Golden State’s Steph Curry: Warriors guard Klay Thompson.
The Warriors have made it clear they’re gunning for the 1996 Bulls’ single-season wins record, and apparently Michael Jordan has no problem with the record being broken.
“Probably not”, Curry said, when asked if he’ll compete next year in his hometown Charlotte.
“I think I can win”, Towns said. “I didn’t care if I had broken knees, I was still going to try to get this”. ESPN’s Kevin Pelton graded Booker a B+ for his performance; only Curry (A) and Thompson (A+) received higher grades.
The six-foot-five LaVine, who won as a 19-year-old rookie last year, joins Michael Jordan (1987-88), Jason Richardson (2002-03) and Nate Robinson (2009-10) as the only back-to-back dunk winners. Curry hit his first seven shots in the final before fading (by his standards, anyway) and finishing with 23. Hammon isn’t telling, saying “I can’t give away our secrets. I know he hasn’t tried some of them”. “That’s fine. I’ll play the underdog for a night”. While at Washington State University, during a preseason game at the Great Alaska Shootout, Thompson tied the tournament record for most three-point shots. The team at times looked straight out of a video game and these two rising stars were able to gain the nick-name the splash brothers as their shooting prowess seemed to be unmatched by the rest of the National Basketball Association.
It makes sense, but because Curry misses out on an additional 7-12 minutes of play, there is a question of just how much better Curry is if he played those extra periods. Thompson is averaging just over 21 points per game for Golden State this season.
Here is a sneak peek at the game plans of the 30 teams (listed alphabetically by division) going all-in for the 2016 title or setting the stage for a brighter future… or if they really are ahead of the curve, possibly both.
“If it’s there for us, we want to get it, but at the end of the day we’re trying to win a championship”, Thompson said.
“They felt they needed a change so they made a change”, Bryant said.
Their record-setting start to the season brought unusually high attention to the NBA’s pre-Christmas schedule, and a strong finish and a chance at 73 victories would do the same during March Madness.
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As for that worldwide All-Star Game, Silver said it will be logistically hard, due to ongoing efforts to reduce the strain of travel on players. Now we’ll see if him and his teammates can follow through.
