An unlikely “underdog” staged a hilarious uprising, spicing up the “3-point” and “dunk” contests at the Men’s National Basketball Association All-Star Game. The 5,000 fans who packed the stadium cheered as new stars emerged. Busan KCC’s Lee Geun-hwi and Suwon KT’s Paris Bass won the three-point and dunk contests, respectively.
Lee won the Pocariswear 3-point shooting contest at the ‘2023-2024 Jungkwanjang Professional Basketball All-Star Game’ held at the Goyang Sono Arena on Thursday. In both the preliminary round before the game and the final round after the first quarter of the All-Star Game, he dominated the competition and took first place, earning a plaque and a cash prize of 2 million won. It was the perfect victory. Lee showed off his potential on the big stage of the All-Star Game and made his true worth known. From the preliminary round of the All-Star Game, he already had a great shooting sense. In the qualifiers, which featured 13 Korean and foreign players who were asked to ‘shoot some shots’ on the KBL stage, Lee came in last and took first place, beating out his competitors. In the end, Lee, Jae-hyun, Nicholson, and Lawson made it to the finals.
Moments later
After the first quarter of the All-Star Game between Team GongAji and Team Kvlmong ended, the four finalists took the court. Nicholson was the second to step out and showed a frightening level of focus. He made all five of his shots, especially in the “Moneyball Zone,” and quickly racked up points, eventually scoring 21 points. It was a good performance, one point better than his qualifying score. He deserved to win. Nicholson’s pace left the third runner, Oh Jae-hyun, with only 14 points. 토토사이트 Nicholson’s hopes of winning were high.
However, Lee Geun-hwi was just as dominant as he was in the preliminaries and showed another ‘last-minute upset’. After hitting four out of five from the first zone, Lee hit a three from the ‘deep three zone’ and was already ahead of Nicholson in the fourth moneyball zone. The final five-zone shot was a “bonus. Already, his KCC teammates, including Hwoong Song, Kyochang Choi, and Junyong Choi, rushed the court to celebrate the win. Lee’s release point remained unwavering until the end. The final score was 27 points. It was an overwhelming victory.
The ‘Dunk Contest’ held at halftime was the stage for Bass.
In fact, Justin Gutang (Changwon LG) had taken first place in the preliminary round with his superior skills. Bass tied for fifth in his heat and barely made it to the finals after a replay. But in the halftime showdown, Bass put on a dominant performance. After barely qualifying for the finals in fifth place, Bass nailed an explosive “between-the-legs” dunk in the second round. He jumped in front of the basket, spun 360 degrees, caught the ball between his legs, and slammed it down. It was an incredible display of power. He followed it up with a backhand dunk that earned him a perfect score (50) from the judges.
This performance was not matched by the competitors behind him. The last man standing, Gutang, came close. Gutang brought a chair from off-court, sat down four of her teammates, including Lee Kwan-hee, under the basket, and jumped over it to dunk. However, it was not enough to overcome the impact of the basket. In the end, Gutang only scored 49 points. The championship (and $2 million in prize money) went to Bass, while Gutang had to settle for the Performance Award ($1 million).