Damian Lillard Wins His Second Straight NBA Three-Point Contest, Trae Young Finishes Second
Hawks point guard Trae Young was looking to make history tonight and be the first member of the Hawks to ever win the NBA's three-point competition.
He was going to face stiff competition for it though. The reigning champion Damian Lillard, Malik Beasley, Lauri Markkanen, Donovan Mitchell, 2022 champion Karl-Anthony Towns, and Jalen Brunson all stood in the way of Young and his quest to win the contest. It was his third time participating in the challenge.
Trae was the first man up in tonight's three-point contest and after a little bit of a slow start, he came in clutch and finished hot down the stretch, including making every shot in his Moneyball rack and eight in a row total. He scored 26 points in his first attempt.
Mitchell was next and only scored 21.
Haliburton looked like he was going to beat Young's score of 26, but his last shot was off and he finished with 26 in his first attempt.
Malik Beasley would end up being the first player eliminated, finishing with 20 points.
After Beasley was eliminated, it was time for the 2022 champion to take center stage. Towns tied Haliburton and Young with 26 points and when he got going, it looked like he was going to beat 26 easily. His 26 points eliminated Mitchell and winnowed down the field again.
To avoid being eliminated, Brunson was up next and had to score at least 26 He got in a rhythm and looked like he was going to be able to be the top score. He did not perform well at the money rack though and finished with 24 points.
Markkanen had a similar fate. He scored 25 points and made his last nine shots, but was eliminated.
26 was the magic number and it was another nail-biter, this time for the defending champion. It came down to the last rack for Lillard and he made his final shot to score 26 points and force a four-way tie between him, Young, Anthony-Towns, and Haliburton. They would go on for a tiebreaker and Young was first up. Instead of the round being 1:10, players only had 30 seconds this time around.
He scored 15 points while Lillard and Towns scored 16. Haliburton scored 12 points and was eliminated.
For Young to win the three-point contest, he was going to have to beat the previous two champs.
Towns got the first crack in the final round. Towns was not able to beat his first-round score and only scored 24 points. In many years, that would be considered a great score, but not in this crowded field of shooters.
Young would be up next and he had to score at least 24. Young made six of his last seven shots and scored 24 points.
Lillard was up next and won the event with 26 points. It came down to the last shot and Lillard knocked it in, winning back-to-back three-point contests.
Young would finish second. It was a great effort in the NBA's premier event, but he could not beat the defending champion.
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