Klay Thompson shot 18-for-25 in the final round and made all but two of his money balls, but his final round score of 25 wasn't enough to take down Phoenix's Devin Booker in Saturday's JBL 3-Point Contest.
Thompson, who won the event in 2016 by matching what was then the contest record with 27 points, had 19 in the first round, which was tied with Booker for the best output in the opening round. Thompson and Booker, along with the Clippers’ Tobias Harris advanced to the final round.
Harris started strong but faded late in the final, finishing with 17. Then Booker took the court and proceeded to miss just five shots in his second round that netted him a 3-point contest record 28 points. The last competitor to shoot it in the final round, Thompson needed to break a record breaking performance to win it.
The Splash Brother started strong, hitting four of his first five shots on his first rack. But with so little margin of error, Thompson couldn’t keep pace, and by the time he started his final rack – his money rack – he was out of the running.
This marked Thompson’s fourth time in the 3-point contest. He lost to fellow Splash Brother Stephen Curry in 2015, won the event the following year by matching Curry’s 2015 record, and last year he was one 3-pointer shy of reaching the final.
This year, Thompson went 32-for-50 over both rounds of the competition, hitting 12 of his 18 money balls. He wound up just three points shy of Booker’s record performance, which is certainly nothing to be disappointed about.
ALL-STAR PRACTICE
Earlier in the day, Thompson took part in All-Star practice, along with his Warriors teammates. Thompson, team captain Stephen Curry and Draymond Green played with Team Stephen, while Kevin Durant practiced with Team LeBron.
Check out videos and photos from the event below.
In addition to practice, All-Star Media Day took place on Saturday for both Team Stephen and Team LeBron. Check out NBA TV’s interview with Stephen Curry below.