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Curry Tops Kyrie in Saturday's Shootout

The 2015 Foot Locker Three-Point Contest in Brooklyn was as stacked a field as any in recent memory -- filled with former champs, the league’s leading scorer, its top three-point shooter, a handful of MVP candidates, the Splash Brothers and, of course, last season’s All-Star Game MVP, Kyrie Irving.

And it didn’t take long to illustrate exactly how good the field was. Portland’s Wesley Matthews notched 22 points in the first round – and was eliminated before the final three entrants set foot on the hardwood.

With a celebrity-filled crowd at the Barclays Center – including Rihanna, Floyd Mayweather and Spike Lee – Kyrie Irving jumped into an early lead with 23 points in the first round, but Stephen Curry, the leading vote-getter in this year’s All-Star Game, tied his mark in short order. Immediately after, Curry’s teammate, Klay Thompson, eclipsed both of them with 24.

But in the final round, neither Irving – who sported the Larry Bird shooting shirt look on Saturday night -- nor Thompson could catch Curry, who canned 13 straight shots en route to a record-setting 27-point final round. Irving, who topped last year’s champ, Marco Belinelli, to win the contest in Houston two years ago, finished with 17 points in the championship round to take second place. Thompson couldn’t find his first-round rhythm and finished with 14.

The three finalists – all of whom have topped the 50-point plateau over the course of their careers – kept Kyle Korver (who leads the NBA in three-point shooting at a jaw-dropping 52 percent) and James Harden (who leads the NBA in scoring at 27.4 ppg) from advancing to the next round.

This was Irving’s third appearance in the Shootout. Four current Cavaliers have participated in the event over the last few years – joining Kevin Love, James Jones and Mike Miller. Jones won it all in 2011 in Los Angeles, Kevin Love followed suit the next year in Orlando before his current teammate and Pepsi-Max co-star took top honors in 2013. Last year, Belinelli bested Irving on Saturday night, but Kyrie soothed the sting by winning the MVP trophy of the All-Star Game 24 hours later.

Irving will try to repeat the feat on Sunday night at Madison Square Garden. But he’ll have another current teammate to contend with when LeBron James joins him on the East roster in the 64th annual midseason classic. Both Cavaliers have a knack for saving their best for the bright lights, and it doesn’t get any brighter than the World’s Most Famous Arena.