Three-Point Contest
The Three-Point Contest (officially named the Foot Locker Three-Point Contest[1] and previously named the Three-Point Shootout)[2] is a National Basketball Association (NBA) contest held on the Saturday before the annual All-Star Game as part of All-Star Weekend.
From 1986 to 2002, eight participants were selected to participate in each season's shootout. Since then, the contest has been open to just six competitors. Klay Thompson (GSW) is the most recent winner of the event which was held at Air Canada Centre in Toronto, Canada.
Rules[edit]
In this contest, participants attempt to make as many three-point field goals as possible from five positions behind the three-point arc in one minute. Players begin shooting from one corner of the court, and move from station to station along the three point arc until they reach the other corner.[3] At each shooting station is a rack with five basketballs. Out of the five balls, four are worth one point (the standard orange Spalding game balls) and the fifth one (a red/white/blue ABA-style ball; often nicknamed the "money ball")[4][5] is worth two points. The goal of this contest is to score as many points as possible within one minute. A perfect score used to be 30 points.[6][7] In the 2014 contest, a rack consisting only of "money balls" was added, and can be placed on any of the 5 spots of the player's choice, bringing up the maximum possible score to 34 points.[8]
In the qualifying round, each player has a chance to score as many points as possible. The three players with the top scores advance to the finals. The final round is played in the same way as the qualifying round, but players shoot according to the ascending order of their first-round scores. In each round, the shots and the score are confirmed by the referee and the television instant replay system.[5][9] The final round will be shot in reverse direction (left to right corner for a left-handed shooter and vice versa). In the case of a tie, multiple extra rounds of 30 seconds (60 seconds in the final) are played to determine the winner.
Prize money[edit]
Contestants compete for a total of $86,000. The first-place winner receives $35,000; the second-place finisher receives $22,500, and the third-place winner receives $15,000. Finishers, from fourth to sixth place, receive $4,500 each.[9]
Milestones[edit]
- Larry Bird, the inaugural winner of this contest, and Craig Hodges have each won three consecutive times, while Mark Price, Jeff Hornacek, Peja Stojaković and Jason Kapono have each won two consecutive times.
- Stephen Curry (final round, 2015) and Klay Thompson (final round, 2016) hold the record with 27 points, albeit in the newer 34-point format.
- Jeff Hornacek holds the record for the lowest amount of points scored to win with 13 points.
- Detlef Schrempf and Michael Jordan share the record for the fewest points scored in any round with five in 1988 and 1990 respectively.[10]
Winners[edit]
# | Player | First Place | Second Place |
---|---|---|---|
1 | Hodges, CraigCraig Hodges | 3 | 2 |
2 | Bird, LarryLarry Bird | 3 | 0 |
3 | Stojaković, PejaPeja Stojaković | 2 | 2 |
T-4 | Hornacek, JeffJeff Hornacek | 2 | 0 |
T-4 | Price, MarkMark Price | 2 | 0 |
T-4 | Kapono, JasonJason Kapono | 2 | 0 |
^ | Denotes players who are still active |
* | Elected to the Basketball Hall of Fame |
Player (#) | Denotes the number of times the player has won |
Team (#) | Denotes the number of times a player from this team has won |
All-time participants[edit]
Player (in bold text) |
Indicates the winner of the contest |
Player (#) | Denotes the number of times the player has been in the contest |
Records[edit]
Notes[edit]
- a The 1999 All-Star Game was cancelled due to the 1998–99 NBA lockout.
- b Denote contests that required a tiebreaking round. The final score given here came from the tiebreaker.[14]
- c Starting with the 2014 Three-Point Contest, the format includes four extra "money balls".
- d C.J. McCollum was named as a replacement to Chris Bosh due to the latter being unable to participate in the event with a calf injury.
References[edit]
- General
- "Shootout All-Time Winners". NBA.com. Turner Sports Interactive, Inc. Retrieved December 17, 2008.
- "Shootout Round-by-Round Results: 2000–08". NBA.com. Turner Sports Interactive, Inc. Retrieved December 17, 2008.
- "Shootout Round-by-Round Results: 1990–98". NBA.com. Turner Sports Interactive, Inc. Retrieved December 17, 2008.
- "Shootout Round-by-Round Results: 1986–89". NBA.com. Turner Sports Interactive, Inc. Retrieved December 17, 2008.
- "Shootout Records". NBA.com. Turner Sports Interactive, Inc. Retrieved December 17, 2008.
- "All-Star Game Contests". basketball-reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Retrieved December 19, 2008.
- Specific
- ^ "Foot Locker Three-Point Contest". NBA.com. Turner Sports Interactive, Inc. Retrieved February 5, 2015.
- ^ a b c d McMenamin, Dave (February 20, 2008). "Kapono Lights Up Saturday Night". NBA.com. Turner Sports Interactive, Inc. Retrieved December 18, 2008.
- ^ Nance, Roscoe (February 16, 2007). "East notes: Kapono taking shot at three-point crown". USA Today. Retrieved December 30, 2008.
- ^ "NBA All-Star Game: Shootout". CBS Sports. Retrieved December 29, 2008.
- ^ a b "Jason Kapono To Defend Foot Locker Three-Point Shootout Crown". NBA.com. Turner Sports Interactive, Inc. February 6, 2008. Retrieved December 18, 2008.
- ^ Brown, Donald H. (2007). A Basketball Handbook. AuthorHouse. p. 85. ISBN 1425961908.
- ^ Brown, Donald H. (2007). A Best of Basketball Story. AuthorHouse. p. 127. ISBN 1434341933.
- ^ Marco Belinelli wins the Three-Point Shootout after Bradley Beal’s comeback forces a playoff, Yahoo Sports!. Retrieved February 14, 2015.
- ^ a b "Billups Named As Participant in Foot Locker Three-Point Shootout". NBA.com. Turner Sports Interactive, Inc. February 8, 2006. Retrieved December 18, 2008.
- ^ http://www.nba-allstar.com/contests/3point/
- ^ a b c "Jason Kapono is Three-Point Champ". NBA.com. Turner Sports Interactive, Inc. Retrieved December 18, 2008.
- ^ a b c "Shootout Records". NBA.com. Turner Sports Interactive, Inc. Retrieved December 17, 2008.
- ^ "Quentin Richardson Bio". NBA.com. Turner Sports Interactive, Inc. Retrieved December 18, 2008.
- ^ "Shootout Round-by-Round Results: 2000–08". NBA.com. Turner Sports Interactive, Inc. Retrieved December 17, 2008.