Hawks All-Star event recap: Wilkins helps keep Shooting Stars dynasty alive
The Atlanta Hawks littered the rosters of the NBA's marquee All-Star events on Saturday night -- from a team legend to young standouts -- at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn. But the Hall of Famer's night was more successful than the current crop of Eastern Conference-leading Hawks.
To tip things off on All-Star Saturday night, Hawks legend Dominique Wilkins played a pivotal role in extending one of the more notable dynasties in sports -- capturing the Shooting Stars Challenge championship for the third straight season. Wilkins joined Miami Heat big man Chris Bosh and WNBA star Swin Cash to beat Team Westbrook -- featuring Russell Westbrook, Penny Hardaway and Tamika Catchings -- in the final round with a winning time of 57.6 seconds.
Best of all for Wilkins? He played the hero.
In the most difficult attempt of the four-shot challenge, Wilkins, who serves as the Hawks analyst for FOX Sports South and SportSouth, stepped up and drained an impressive halfcourt shot to give his team the three-peat. Lightheartedly ragged earlier in All-Star Weekend by friend and TV commentator Kenny Smith about his shooting ability, Wilkins took the opportunity to answer his loudest critic after the victory.
"I have a message for Kenny: Look at my track record. I didn't get to 26,000 points on dunks alone," Wilkins joked. "You catch my drift?"
Hawks forward Paul Millsap, alongside Hall of Famer Scottie Pippen and WNBA star Elena Delle Donne, also competed in the shooting challenge, but made an early exit.
Team Bosh is not taking its third title lightly, either. After establishing its dominance over the likes of basketball icons Pippen, Steph Curry and Sue Bird, the team captain let it be known that a celebration was about to commence.
"About to pop a couple bottles of champagne ... and mess up the locker room, trash it real nice," Bosh said.
There was not as much celebrating for Hawks All-Star point guard Jeff Teague and his backup, Dennis Schroder, in the Skills Challenge. After getting off to a near-perfect start in Round 1, beating Magic rookie Elfrid Payton, Teague was eliminated by eventual champion Patrick Beverley (Houston Rockets) in the event's semifinals after missing a couple 3-pointers. Schroder made a first-round exit, losing to Raptors All-Star Kyle Lowry.
It was a similar story for Atlanta sharpshooter Kyle Korver.
Korver, who is in the middle of one of the greatest shooting seasons in NBA history, aiming for the first official 50/50/90 season with a 73.1 true shooting percentage, was eliminated in the first round of the 3-point Shootout. The 6-foot-7 guard finished with 18 points -- he needed 22 to advance to the final round. Warriors star and MVP candiate Steph Curry won the competition over teammate Klay Thompson and Cavaliers guard Kyrie Irving.
The Hawks will feature a record-tying four All-Stars in Sunday night's All-Star Game.
