Bradley Beal used an improbable last effort on his final rack to send the NBA All-Star Saturday Three-Point Contest into a tiebreaker round, but it wasn't enough to defeat Marco Belinelli as he lifted the West squad to its second event win of the night with a score of 24.
NBA 3-point Contest 2014: Marco Belinelli overcomes poor start to defeat Bradley Beal
The three-point contest may not have featured favorites from either squad, but it still featured all of the drama one could ask for.
Steve Mitchell-USA TODAY Sports
Belinelli got past an early air ball on the first rack to hit his final three money balls and edge out Stephen Curry to post a score of 19 in the first round and advance to the final round. Making it to the championship after doing this was a feat in itself:
Belinelli had the competition in hand before Beal got hot in the championship round and cleared his final rack to force the extra round.
Beal had his own hype man in his corner all the way through the competition in multi-platinum recording artist Nelly, who was beyond excited for his fellow St. Louisan:
Nelly and Beal go back a ways, so much so that Nelly used to walk the Wizards guard to elementary school on occasion before he became a star in the entertainment industry.
Stephen Curry, who leads the NBA with 171 three-pointers made, was just 1-of-5 on the final rack in Round 1, which was his “all money ball” choice for the night. It cost him a bid to win his first title in the event after falling just short in 2013 as runner-up to defending champion Kyrie Irving, who also fell in the first round.
Kevin Love made just 1-of-5 from his money ball rack and finished with 16, which cost him a trip to the championship round for the West. Damian Lillard fell just short of earning a chance to win two events on the evening with a score of 18 in Round 1.
More from SB Nation NBA:
See More:
