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| NBA.com: The Toronto Raptors’ Jason Kapono will defend his title in this year’s Foot Locker Three-Point Shootout, which will be held on Saturday, Feb. 16, at New Orleans Arena as part of NBA All-Star Saturday Night. Kapono will attempt to become the first back-to-back winner of the Foot Locker Three-Point Shootout since Peja Stojakovic won the 2002 and 2003 titles. Stojakovic will return to the competition representing the hometown New Orleans Hornets for the first time since finishing as runner-up in the 2004 competition. Stojakovic and Kapono will be joined by Western Conference starter and 10-time All-Star Kobe Bryant of the Los Angeles Lakers, Daniel Gibson of the Cleveland Cavaliers, Richard Hamilton of the Detroit Pistons and two-time MVP Steve Nash of the Phoenix Suns. The players will compete in the two-round competition with the top three finishers from the first round advancing to the finals. Five shooting stations will be set up around the three-point line, with four Official Spalding NBA game balls worth one point each and one Spalding NBA All-Star 2008 commemorative teal and gold colored “money ball” worth two points at each location. Each player will have one minute to shoot as many balls as he can. In the final round, players will shoot in ascending order of first-round scores. At the discretion of the referee, television instant replay may be consulted for clarification of rules compliance. As with all of this year's All-Star participants, Bryant, Gibson, Hamilton, Kapono, Stojakovic and Nash will join over 2,500 members of the NBA Family for the NBA Cares All-Star Day of Service on Friday, Feb. 15. The volunteers will participate in a variety of service projects at 10 different sites throughout New Orleans. In addition, Foot Locker will be working with the New Orleans Recreation Department (NORD) to refurbish Stallings Gentilly Park in association with NBA Cares. The official court dedication to the New Orleans community will take place on Saturday, Feb. 16. The Foot Locker Three-Point Shootout will be televised live nationally as part of the NBA All-Star Saturday Night, which will also feature the Haier Shooting Stars, Sprite Slam Dunk and PlayStation® Skills Challenge. TNT and ESPN Radio’s national coverage will begin at 8 p.m. ET from New Orleans Arena. The NBA All-Star Game on Sunday, Feb. 17, will air live on TNT, ESPN Radio and in more than 200 countries and territories worldwide. |
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| Very entertaining scene to end today’s Pistons practice. Shooting guard Richard Hamilton officially began his Three-Point Shootout practicing as a good portion of his teammates coached, watched, refereed and rebounded. Advertisement Of course, in the big picture, a contest like this means nothing. But in a stretch of the season when the playoffs can seem so far away, it’s providing the Pistons with a light-hearted outlet to let off some steam and have some fun. Because Hamilton is such a trash talker, he’s been pumping his three-point shooting skills for weeks. And his teammates love to hear it and give their opinions back. Makes for a good time for everyone. So Thursday, Rasheed Wallace manned the clock and gave Hamilton a “5-4-3-2-1” count to get him rolling. Wallace also, of course, yelled out his constant analysis of Hamilton’s shooting and technique. Assistant coach Michael Curry and video guy Jason Hervey, with some help from rookie Rodney Stuckey, handled three ball racks, including one so rickety its wheel kept falling off. Tayshaun Prince and Amir Johnson rebounded. And Hamilton started working. He began by shooting from each individual spot with a 10-second clock. He worked his way up to doing the entire five-spot, 25-ball rotation with a 60-second clock. Once he started running between spots, he yelled out, “Once I’m moving, I’m good. This is what I do.” He also said he was going to start working on his acceptance speech and mimed as if he was at a podium speaking to a large crowd. It was hilarious. Hamilton fared well at times, but the first time he went to all five spots, he only made 11. That had Ronald “Flip” Murray yelling, “He’s gonna get lit up!” The next time he went through, he upped it to 18. Anyway, again, in the long run, this all means nothing. But because Hamilton’s such a character, it certainly is making early February a little more entertaining. |
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| "I've got a lot of haters out there -- in this locker room and outside, but it ain't nothing new," Hamilton said. "Chaunce (Billups) wanted to give me advice, Terry Porter wanted to give me advice. I said, 'I'm not going to take advice from the person who didn't win the event.' You know? I'm going to go out, do my job and hopefully win." |
| QUOTE (zeke11 @ Feb 9 2008, 06:40 PM) |
| [dohtml]<object width="425" height="355"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/yx6grn2XRFQ&rel=1"></param><param name="wmode" value="transparent"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/yx6grn2XRFQ&rel=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" width="425" height="355"></embed></object>[/dohtml] Someone get the fire extinguisher! |
| QUOTE (Tay and JMax @ Feb 8 2008, 11:57 PM) |
| hey now remember Rip lead the NBA in 3 pt % in 2006 |