By Leobert Julian A. de la Peña
From Salt Lake City in Utah to Indianapolis, Indiana, Dame Time once again ticked and showed the world he is one of the most lethal three-point shooters in the history of the NBA.
After a slow start in both the first-round elimination and the tiebreaker, Damian Lillard of the Milwaukee Bucks caught fire in the most crucial stretch of the final round to successfully defend his crown as the NBA All-Star Three-Point Contest king last February 18, 2024.
Lillard prevailed over Trae Young of the Atlanta Hawks and Minnesota Timberwolves’ superstar Karl-Anthony Towns in the grand finale after finishing with 26 big points.
The current Milwaukee floor general had to survive an early shooting slump after only converting a shot out of his five attempts but recovered in the last 30 seconds, cashing in four out of his five money balls to nip Young who was in the lead.
Before getting to the final round, Lillard, Young, Towns, and Tyrese Haliburton engaged in a tiebreaker shootout after all of them scored 26 in the first round.
Towns and Lillard were in front after the 30-second elimination shootout as the pair delivered 16 points while Young made the last trip with 15 markers. Haliburton, who started out smoking out, only finished with 12.
It was a nerve wracking championship round as both Towns and Young equalized with 24 points apiece. A little bit of pressure was on Lillard as he stepped into the court as the last shooter of the finals.
Lillard then bucked a slow start and went full beast mode in the last three racks including a clutch money ball conversion with his last throw to become this year’s three-point winner.
With the win, Lillard became the first back-to-back three-point king since Jason Kapono during the 2007-2008 NBA All-Star festivity.
