{"id":469304,"date":"2026-02-15T02:25:09","date_gmt":"2026-02-15T02:25:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/469304\/"},"modified":"2026-02-15T02:25:09","modified_gmt":"2026-02-15T02:25:09","slug":"damian-lillard-wins-3-point-title-keshad-johnson-dunk-contest","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/469304\/","title":{"rendered":"Damian Lillard wins 3-point title, Keshad Johnson dunk contest"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

On a holiday celebrating love and affection, thousands of enthusiastic basketball fans showed up at Intuit Dome to cheer for their favorite NBA players in a trifecta of skills competitions on the eve of the league\u2019s 75th annual All-Star Game<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Getting Saturday off to a scintillating start was the three-point contest \u2014 one of All-Star Weekend\u2019s most coveted prizes since Larry Bird won the initial contest in 1986 as well as the next two.<\/p>\n

Portland\u2019s Damian Lillard joined Bird and Craig Hodges (1990-92) as the only three-time winners with a stunning exhibition in the final round, ending up with a score of 29 \u2014 two better than runner-up and 2018 champion Devin Booker of Phoenix. Lillard equaled the best final-round score, set by Karl-Anthony Towns in 2022.<\/p>\n

\u201cI came out here excited to do it,\u201d said Lillard, a nine-time All-Star who is sitting out this season after surgery to repair a torn Achilles tendon last April. \u201cI can\u2019t say I knew I\u2019d win but I came in confident. This is my sixth time doing it \u2026 this felt like a game to me.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lillard went second in the finals and watched anxiously from the bench as it looked like Booker would overtake him before missing his last three shots from the corner.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt the end I was at his mercy but it worked out,\u201d said Lillard, who won with 26 points in 2023 and 2024. \u201cI was once a fan too \u2014 as a kid I went to the All-Star Game in Oakland\u2014 and fans want to see their guys. That\u2019s what made me want to be a part of it.\u201d<\/p>\n

In the first round, eight players had 70 seconds to shoot 27 balls from five designated spots on the court. Booker posted the highest score (30) and also making the finals with 27 points each were Lillard and Charlotte rookie Kon Knueppel. Donovan Mitchell (24), Norman Powell (23), Jamal Murray (18), Tyrese Maxey (17) and Bobby Portis Jr. (15) were eliminated.<\/p>\n

Next up was the shooting stars competition, which returned to All-Star Weekend after a 10-year hiatus and featured four teams, each consisting of two current NBA players and one retired \u201clegend.\u201d<\/p>\n

When all was said and done, Jalen Brunson, Towns and Allan Houston led Team Knicks to a 47-38 triumph over Team Cameron, made up of Duke alums Jalen Johnson, Knueppel and Corey Maggette, a former Clipper.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis was cool and the game\u2019s become more and more international,\u201d Brunson said. \u201cBasketball is a universal language. Winning\u2019s always fun, not just beating a team from Duke.\u201d<\/p>\n

In the semifinals, Team Knicks beat Team Harper (Dylan Harper of San Antonio, Ron Harper Jr. of Boston and their father, five-time NBA champion Ron Harper) while Team Cameron beat Team All-Star (Scottie Barnes of Toronto, Chet Holmgren of Oklahoma City and three-time All-Star Richard Hamilton).<\/p>\n

\"From <\/p>\n

From left, Rick Brunson, Allan Houston, Jalen Brunson and Karl-Anthony Towns hold the winners\u2019 trophies after the shooting stars competition.<\/p>\n

(Jae C. Hong \/ Associated Press)<\/p>\n

Was it a case of the old guy carrying the young guys?<\/p>\n

\u201cHe did his job,\u201d Anthony Towns joked about Houston, who played for the Knicks from 1996-05 and currently serves as general manager of the franchise\u2019s G League team, the Westchester Knicks.<\/p>\n

Shooting stars was a regular feature from 2004-15 and the original format featured an NBA, WNBA and retired player on each team shooting from four locations.<\/p>\n

This year, each team had 70 seconds to score points by shooting from seven different areas worth anywhere from two to four points.<\/p>\n

Rounding out Valentine\u2019s Day festivities was the crowd-pleasing slam-dunk contest, showcasing the individuality and athleticism of its four first-time participants: Lakers center Jaxson Hayes, Spurs forward Carter Bryant, Heat forward Keshad Johnson and Magic rookie guard Jase Richardson.<\/p>\n

Johnson, who measured a 42-inch vertical leap at the 2024 draft combine, ultimately raised the gold trophy following a final round total of 97.4. He made a side-to-side move at the rim on his penultimate attempt, then sprinted the length of the court and soared from around the top of the key for a windmill jam on his last effort.<\/p>\n

\u201cEveryone make some noise,\u201d the jubilant Johnson told the roomful of reporters afterward. \u201cIt\u2019s a dream. I beat the odds. Every year I watched the dunk contest and I learned from all the people before me.\u201d <\/p>\n

\"Slam <\/p>\n

Slam dunk winner Keshad Johnson elevates toward the rim while passing the ball from hand to hand under his leg.<\/p>\n

(Ronaldo Bolanos \/ Los Angeles Times)<\/p>\n

Bryant settled for second with 93 despite a perfect score of 50 after he bounced the ball off the floor, under his leg for a one-handed stuff that drew thunderous applause on his first try before making a less-difficult 360-degree shot with time running out on his second attempt.<\/p>\n

\u201cI really wanted him to finish that last one,\u201d Johnson said. \u201cBoth of us are from U of A [Arizona], so we wanted to put on a show and we did.\u201d <\/p>\n

Reigning champion Max McClung, the only player in the event\u2019s history to win three years in a row, announced in January he would not be defending his title. He is signed to a two-way contract with the Bulls and their G League affiliate Windy City.<\/p>\n

In the opening round all four players attempted two slam dunks each, receiving a score between 40 and 50 per try. The two contestants accumulating the highest aggregate scores, Bryant (94.8) and Johnson (92.8), qualified for the final dunk-off, where both got two more attempts.<\/p>\n

\u201cDunking is an art and it\u2019s kind of hard to come up with new stuff,\u201d added Johnson, who keyed San Diego State\u2019s surprising run to the NCAA tournament\u2019s Sweet 16 in 2023 before transferring to Arizona. \u201cMy goal is to just be myself and put my own flavor in it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Spurred on by the hometown crowd, Hayes was third at 91.8 while Richardson, the son of two-time winner Jason Richardson, was last 88.8.<\/p>\n

Judging this year\u2019s contest were former champions Nate Robinson, Dominique Wilkins, Brent Barry, former Lakers center Dwight Howard and fans via NBA ID.<\/p>\n

\"Lakers <\/p>\n

Lakers center Jaxson Hayes rises for a tomahawk dunk during the contest Saturday.<\/p>\n

(Allen J. Schaben \/ Los Angeles Times)<\/p>\n

Julius Irving won the first slam-dunk contest in 1976, the year before the ABA-NBA merger. Robinson (2006, 2009, 2010) and McClung are the only three-time winners.<\/p>\n

\u201cBeing undrafted and in the G League and being the underdogs at San Diego State\u2026 I\u2019ve learned how to dream dreams,\u201d Johnson said. \u201cI\u2019m so grateful to be here. I\u2019m from Oakland, the West Coast is home to me and I felt like the fans were with me.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"On a holiday celebrating love and affection, thousands of enthusiastic basketball fans showed up at Intuit Dome to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":469305,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[64],"tags":[40549,5487,29603,218043,218041,106199,355,15553,13544,7075,99,218040,218042,1599,218039,2394],"class_list":{"0":"post-469304","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nba","8":"tag-carter-bryant","9":"tag-damian-lillard","10":"tag-fan","11":"tag-hornets-rookie-kon-knueppel","12":"tag-initial-contest","13":"tag-keshad-johnson","14":"tag-nba","15":"tag-player","16":"tag-point","17":"tag-second","18":"tag-sports","19":"tag-sr","20":"tag-star-competition","21":"tag-team","22":"tag-team-knicks","23":"tag-year"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/469304","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=469304"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/469304\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/469305"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=469304"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=469304"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=469304"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}