If anyone was going to take down Curry, no one is surprised it was Thompson.
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If Thompson is not the best, he is about as close as you can get to it. All year Thompson has shown off his talent. I was able to make critics wrong, Vegas wrong, (Wolves point guard) Ricky Rubio wrong. But the gap between them appears to have narrowed.
“He definitely shot well tonight”, Curry said.
Suns rookie Devin Booker was bested by only the “Splash Brother” in Saturday’s NBA All-Star 3-point contest. Booker went first in the final round and put up a 16.
That left it to Thompson, also a guard, who scored 27.
The defending champions have been so dominant that they could already be a 50-win team this weekend.
“I’m proud of myself”, Thompson said, adding he will give his trophy to his father, who has a collection of awards from his three sons. “Not gonna lie, I got nervous when he hit his first eight [on the final round], and I didn’t think he was going to miss”. But it was exciting….
“Back-to-back years for the ‘Splash Brothers, ‘” Thompson said. He does all the little and less-desirable things that help a team win, and he may just be better defensively this season than he was past year when he garnered Second Team All-Defense honors.
The two showed their athleticism and pulled off innovative dunks to stun the crowd and the panel of judges that featured the likes of Magic Johnson and Shaquille O’Neal. When LaVine sealed it by jumping from the free-throw line and putting it between his legs before dunking it, Curry ran on the court and swatted the ball to the other end of the court.
“We had a gentleman’s bet”, Thompson said with a smile. “I’m like, wow that’s the guy that everyone wanted to be growing up”. Thomas topped Denver Nugget Emmanuel Mudiay in the first round, then Portland Trail Blazers guard C.J. McCollum to get to the final. Still, it’s good to see the biggest legend in the game welcome the challenge.
BIG CHALLENGE: A big man is guaranteed to reach the final of the Skills Challenge, the obstacle-course event that combines dribbling, passing and shooting. However, there may be one question that is on everyone’s mind and it may be, is Thompson the best shooter in the National Basketball Association?
“Like half the dunks we did were like professional dunker dunks, and it takes them four or five times to try it and make it, and we did it on the first try”, LaVine said.
So it went on offense in a game that saw both teams eclipse the all-time All-Star scoring record in the Western Conference’s 196-173 win against the Eastern Conference on Sunday.
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It won’t be long before they get serious again. Silver dashed hopes China or Japan would play host before areas such as Britain or Germany. “I don’t think there is any doubt that he’ll go down as one of the greatest players ever to play this game”.
