On Saturday, Tyrese Maxey was the first Sixers player to compete in the 3-Point Contest since Kyle Korver in 2005. Unfortunately for Sixers fans, Maxey was eliminated early, finishing with a score of just 17 in the first round and not advancing.
That’s fine. Save it for the stretch run to the playoffs, dude!
Kon Knueppel, Devin Booker and Damian Lillard were the three contestants who advanced to the final round. Lillard’s score of 29 narrowly left him the champion, the third time he’s won the event.
That’s all OK, but can I complain about All-Star Weekend for a second?
No, I’m not here to wax poetic about nostalgia and say it was all better when I was a kid because, in reality, I’m not sure how true that actually is, but the timing and attendance of the last two days confuses me deeply. I’m not sure what the actual attendance numbers said, but for the Rising Stars event on Friday, the Intuit Dome looked remarkably empty. How are they not even finding fillers for such an event? Saturday’s action began at 2 p.m. local time and looked just as sparse when it came to the crowd. There was still light out in Philadelphia when the 3-Point Contest started! This is all so strange. There was negative juice for what should be a celebration of professional basketball!
Sometimes, I feel like the NBA has passed me by, but I can’t understand how any of this is good for the future health of the sport.
Anyway, I’m sure Sixers fans would’ve liked to see Maxey advance and win on Saturday, but there are more important things on the team’s radar heading into the spring.
