NBA All-Star Winners and Losers Saturday: Curry and Ionescu steal the show on a lackluster night

Another NBA All-Star Saturday night is in the books. Unfortunately, there wasn’t much to write home about on what was ultimately a fairly lackluster night in Indianapolis. Steven’s challenge against Sabrina, which easily stole the show, is probably the only reason anyone remembers this iteration of the annual show.

With all the action out of the way, here’s a look at Saturday night’s winners and losers.

Winner: Steve and Sabrina

There was a new event on the scene this year, as Golden State Warriors legend Steph Curry accepted a challenge from WNBA star Sabrina Ionescu in a special one-round three-point shootout. Curry eventually got hot for a 29-26 win, but both were winners to add some real excitement to the night.

This historic confrontation should have been the main event. No player or pundit can go anywhere in the lead-up to a match without being asked for their pick, and it was clear throughout the weekend that this was the only aspect of the night anyone really cared about. Better yet, it lives up to the hype.

Ionescu took first place and made her first seven shots before finishing with 26 points, a score that matched the best score of anyone in the three-point contest. But that would not be enough as Curry hit eight of the last ten shots to score 29 goals and win the shootout by three points, which is a decent margin.

Both said they want the event to return in the future. Let’s hope they get their wish.

Loser: Dunk Contest

The NBA will never get rid of the dunk contest, or even change it to a biannual or quadrennial event. However, maybe they should, because this year’s edition was another reminder that it has lost its luster. As fun as Mac McClung’s debut was last year, it was just a one-time event and not a sign that the Dunk Contest had been “saved,” as many declared at the time.

McClung won it again this year, sneaking in ahead of Jaylen Brown by a whisker, but his second appearance wasn’t quite as juicy. And no one else did much to help him. Not the other divers, and certainly not the broadcast, which completely missed Brown’s first real-time dunk. The judges didn’t help either, and the results were questionable all night.

This certainly wasn’t the worst diving competition we’ve ever seen, but it was completely forgettable.

Heading into Saturday night, it had been more than a decade since anyone had competed in the three-point contest, and even Lillard didn’t know it was former Toronto Raptors leading scorer Jason Kapono in 2007 and 2008. The question will be much easier now that Lillard has the trophy in Indianapolis.

He did so in dramatic fashion, scoring his final shot of the championship round to edge past Trae Young, 26-24. Lillard appeared to be on his way to victory, but he missed his first four shots from his final rack. As the seconds pa*sed, he calmed down and entered a Dame Time race, just as he had done so often throughout his career.

With his win, Lillard joins Larry Bird (3x), Craig Hodges (3x), Steph Curry, Jeff Hornacek, Kapono, Mark Price, and Peja Stojakovic as the only multiple winners. He is the first to win it while playing for two different franchises, joining Ray Allen as the second Milwaukee Buck to achieve the feat.

Loser: Participants in a too-cool-for-school sk**ls challenge

For some reason, the NBA has moved forward with a revamped Sk**ls Challenge format that features three teams instead of individual participants. This time, it was the Pacers, the team’s top picks (made up of No. 1 overall draft picks) and the All-Star team (a random lineup of all-stars).

The Pacers hoisted the Cup in front of their hometown fans, largely because they were the only team that seemed interested. That was certainly the case early on, as Top Picks and Team All-Stars snuck through the inaugural event and routinely broke the rules.

If players don’t want to participate, that’s perfectly fine. But if you want to attend, you better at least try.