Lillard wins the last shot and Stephen Curry can handle the amazing Sabrina Ionescu.

threes They have never had so many practitioners. While the regular all-star contest featured eight competitors, two others joined a parallel contest that took place minutes later and was one of the highlights of Saturday night in Indianapolis.

The NBA took on two of the best pitchers on the planet, one from each gender, in a battle of the sexes between old acquaintances that drew attention both inside and outside the game. Stephen Curry He plays in San Francisco for the Warriors and Sabrina Ionescu

, 26, a member of the WNBA’s Liberty (New York), was born in this city and is a former point guard who is the greatest three-point shooter in the men’s league. The two challenged each other a few weeks ago and a duel was agreed upon.

shooting The three traditional competitions have not gone away, they are still here. They form the basis of the All-Star game. So did Damian Lillard, who repeated his victory with a stunning result. You will have to wait until the end for this person. Now the Bucks point guard won the final shot.

Lillard won in 2023 in Utah and was able to repeat. This was the first time the chain had been chained in this competition since the untold Jason Kapono achieved it in 2007 and 2008. He boarded this boat and remained there until all his rivals fell into the water. Malik Beasley (20), Donovan Mitchell (21), Jalen Brunson (24) and Lauri Markkanen (25) remained in the first round. But there should have been five dropouts, not four. Four players scored 26 points. And we had to do a tiebreaker. Previous great winner and local icon Tyrese Haliburton was left in the lurch on this occasion. Karl-Anthony Towns, Trae Young and Lillard advanced to the finals. Towns scored 22 and Young had 24. Everything was in the hands of the champion, who wanted to continue to have the current title in this division.

The lady warmed up, ball by ball, car by car, and seemed to have achieved her goal, but got stuck in the last frames. He needed to come in last, with just seconds to spare, to surpass Trae and secure his second win in the event.

And then a devastating event happened. Not for dusty minds.

Ionescu brought the show to Indianapolis and changed the rules. Figuratively and formally. The original idea was for him to throw from his normal distance of 6.75 metres, but he asked to do it from Curry’s distance of 7.25. Equality. In the women’s competition he took smaller balls than in the men’s. This charity match, in which players donated a cash prize to two community organizations, was fabricated on social media and took place at Lucas Oil Stadium after the official three-point contest. A dessert that tasted like progress. The Liberty player, for whom Pau Gasol is an idol and friend, started first. 26 points

. It’s a far cry from the record he has, a performance that will be difficult to replicate and which logically precipitated this confrontation. Stephen Curry, with a smile on his face, did not leave a single quality mark outside the penalty area and returned. 29 points. The Warriors guy doesn’t even forgive that.

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