Kyrie Irving triumphs in 2013 NBA All-Star Three-Point Contest
Kyrie Irving’s stock keeps on rising after he won the Three-Point Contest in the All-Star weekend. The sophomore guard from the Cleveland Cavaliers has gone from strength to strength in his short NBA career.
Last year’s Rookie of the year had earlier secured his first trip to the All-Star game courtesy of a season where he is averaging 23.5 points per game while shooting 46.6% from the floor, which includes an impressive 42.5% from beyond the arc.
Now, the 6’3 guard will have a new prize to boast of. His involvement in the three-point contest means that Irving will be involved in all three days of the weekend, having participated in the Rising Stars game on Friday and due to feature in the main event of the weekend; Sunday’s All-Star game.
Irving went up against San Antonio Spurs‘ Matt Bonner in the finals of the contest having knocked out other shooters Stephen Curry, Steve Novak, Paul George and Ryan Anderson in the first round of the contest.
In the second round Irving started off spiting fire hitting his first 7 shots to end up with a final score of 23, only 2 shy of the of the record of 25 jointly held by Craig Hodges and Jason Kapono.
Matt Bonner finally finished with 20 points to hand the title to Irving who stroke the balls near perfection in the final round and makes him a three point champion at the tender age of only 20.
With the All-Star still to feature the enigmatic guard, this weekend may well turn out to be one of the most memorable ones in Irving’s career.