2016 NBA All-Star Saturday Recap And Highlights
Taco Bell Skills Challenge:
In quite possibly the most entertaining rendition of the Skills Challenge ever, Karl-Anthony Towns emerged as the unlikely victor, defeating little man Isaiah Thomas in the final round.
In the first round C.J. McCollum defeated Los Angeles Lakers sophomore Jordan Clarkson, with both players having temporary problems getting their passes to go through the hoop. Clarkson made the heavily criticized decision to allow McCollum to shoot his layup first, and paid for it when McCollum came and knocked down his first three-point try to win the matchup.
Denver Nuggets rookie Emmanuel Mudiay looked nervous out of the gate, which compounded the issue when Isaiah Thomas got his first pass to go through the hoop. Mudiay actually lost the ball before his layup attempt, which gave Thomas more than enough time to make his second three-point attempt and advance to the second round.
Draymond Green, considered the favorite among the bigs, was upset in the first round by Towns, the eventual champ. Green made his first pass through the hoop and Towns advanced past that portion after missing the requisite three attempts, but Draymond went 0-for-2 from three-point range and KAT knocked down his second attempt to move on.
DeMarcus Cousins may have immediately lost the ball in his matchup with Anthony Davis, but Boogie benefitted from the three-tries-and-advance rule on the passing portion of the Skills Challenge. The Brow couldn’t get his three-point shot to fall in three tries, and Boogie nailed his second attempt.
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In the second round, Isaiah Thomas got a big lead when McCollum dribbled the ball off his foot weaving through the NBA logo cones, and Thomas finished him off quickly by going 1-for-1 on the pass, layup and three-point shot.
KAT came out guns blazing in the second round against Boogie, expertly weaving through the cones, nailing his first pass through the hoop and knocking down his first three-point look to defeat Cousins, who fell behind after he couldn’t get his pass down.
In the final, Karl-Anthony Towns and Isaiah Thomas gave fans their money’s worth for the whole event, going toe-to-toe on the dribbling, both knocking down the pass on the first try and sprinting to get their layups to fall at the same time. In a frenzy of three-point misses at the end, Towns eventually emerged victorious on his fourth try.
Thomas went 0-for-3 in the heated contest, though his third attempt came after Towns had already made his.
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