2013 NBA All-Star Weekend: Foot Locker Three Point Shootout

For some people, this is more exciting than the dunk contest. It's certainly more objective as far as determining the winner and while I do still think the dunk contest deserves to be the "main event", I love the three point shootout as well.

2013 Eastern Conference Foot Locker Three-Point Contest Participants

Paul George (Indiana)
Kyrie Irving (Cleveland)
Steve Novak (New York)

2013 Western Conference Foot Locker Three-Point Contest Participants

Ryan Anderson (New Orleans)
Matt Bonner (San Antonio)
Stephen Curry (Golden State)

I'm picking Stephen Curry, the purest shooter of the group with the highest three point percentage (at least at the time the participants were announced). There are some other good shooters in the field for sure though, with Steve Novak being my dark horse pick should Curry not get the job done, but I'll stick with my first instinct and take Curry.

I will go with recent trend of odd player winning this competition and pick Paul George.

Ryan Anderson is another possibility, I could see him getting through to the final round at least, but being a bigger and slower player I can also see him tiring quicker and/or having to rush his shots to get them all up, ultimately preventing him from winning.

haha matt bonner, must appreciate the underdogs

Once again I am going with the hometown homie Matt Bonner.And I am more excited about this event more than the dunk contest.I always have been.

Picked Novak just beacuse I want him to win it. Lots of other good shooters though.

The Red Rocket all day long.

Picking Curry of course, but I think the biggest threat to win is either Novak or the Red Rocket Matt Bonner. I won't be surprise either if Ryan Anderson wins.

The Red Rocket all day long.

It's pretty unfortunate nickname for Bonner. Hoping for George to get the win.

Since Korver's not in it, hoping for George to win it.

Steve Novak.

Bonner looked like he might challenge some records there before he cooled off. My pick, Curry, could be on the brink.

Bonner vs. Irving in the Finals. West winning the contest because of George's 10 points.

Aside from George's performance, some pretty good scores in the contest this year. White hot shooting by Irving in the championship round to win it all, I thought he was going to break Hodge's record.

Amazing. Irving's making a mark in this year's all-star already in his young career. Two days in a row, he's dazzled the fans. And he's to play as an all-star tomorrow. I hope Bron gives him chance to shine.

As for my pick Paul George, shame.

Crazy to think that Irving could have also won last year's skills challenge but he doesn't care about that apparently.

This was the only event I enjoyed.Kyrie did his thing.I did not expect that from him in the championship round.
The NBA needs to bring back the single elimination format again.Or bring back the 8 player format but with 5 rounds.
I am glad Bonner got his opportunity to show what he has.It is a shame that he was never picked to participate in the past.
Paul George looked like he didn't really care to be there.

I think two rounds and six competitors is sufficient, but like the dunk contest I think this one suffered a bit from the new East vs West format. In years gone by, Ryan Anderson would've had a chance to go to the finals, either via a tiebreaker round with Irving if they went with two finalists or qualifying alongside him and Bonner if the top three advanced, so he lost out despite being tied for the second best score in the first round.

Nobody quite saw this coming, Kyrie Irving taking home this one. For one thing, the contest seems to favor set shooters, which most of the time are tall. Shorter players needs their legs to get the range on the ball, which will not favor the short player because of fatigue. So hom winning with a final score of 23 is a big surprise for me, I would have guessed him finishing around 17. I am still a bit skeptical that Irving will become a true superstar, but having putting himself on top in this contest proves that he definitely has the skills to be a superstar.

For what it's worth, 14 of the 27 contests have been won by players who are 6'6" or shorter.

Yes, good point. But, also look at it this way, only 2 players, Hodges and Price are shorter than Kyrie. Mark Price and Craig Hodges are each recognized as two of the best shooters in NBA history. Both share 5 3pt trophies between them, only 1 broke 20pts in the final round. Kyrie made 23, which is great, as against Mark Price's best of 24 and the contest's best of 25. So the point is, Kyrie is in good company. The only other guy with the same height as Irving who won the contest is a certain 3pt gunner named Steve Kerr, AKA as the owner of the best career 3pt shooting %.