Brooklyn Nets: History of Nets on All-Star Saturday
By Phil Watson
Three-Point Contest
The Brooklyn Nets franchise doesn’t have a terrific track record in the Three-Point Contest, formerly known at the Three-Point Shootout, with just four contestants through the 2018 All-Star Weekend since the competition was introduced in 1986.
Here are the Nets’ results in the contest.
2014: Joe Johnson
Joe Johnson became the first member of the Brooklyn Nets to compete in the Three-Point Contest when he was selected for the competition in New Orleans in 2014.
It was Johnson’s second appearance in the Three-Point Contest, having appeared as a member of the Phoenix Suns in 2005.
But Johnson would go out in the first round with 11 points, as he only got off one shot in his final rack.
Marco Belinelli of the San Antonio Spurs got the win, beating Bradley Beal of the Washington Wizards in a final-round tiebreaker.
2012: Anthony Morrow
In 2012, Anthony Morrow of the New Jersey Nets was selected as just the second Net to compete in the Three-Point Shootout and the first in 20 years.
Morrow didn’t get out of the first round in Orlando, but his decision to honor the Nets’ first competitor in the contest, the late Drazen Petrovic, by wearing a replica jersey of Petrovic was one of the great All-Star Weekend moments of all-time.
Petrovic had competed in Orlando in 1992.
Morrow was eliminated after getting 14 points in the first round.
In the final, Kevin Love of the Minnesota Timberwolves bested Kevin Durant of the Oklahoma City Thunder in a tiebreaker round, 17-14, after the pair each hit 16 points in their first run through the final.
1992: Drazen Petrovic
In his first full season with the New Jersey Nets, Drazen Petrovic became the first Net ever selected for the Three-Point Shootout and is, to date, the only player in Net history to get past the first round of the competition.
In the first round in Orlando, Petrovic’s 13 points were enough to get him through to the semifinals, but he faltered there, finishing last among the four competitors with a final score of eight points.
Two-time defending champion Craig Hodges of the Chicago Bulls reached the final and was matched up with journeyman Jim Les of the Sacramento Kings.
Les had scored 20 points in the semifinals and looked on as Hodges recorded a final-round score of 16. Les missed his final two shots on the last rack, collapsing to the floor as the money ball clanged off just long as Hodges became just the second three-time winner, along with Larry Bird.