Feb 14, 2015; New York, NY, USA; Milwaukee Bucks guard Brandon Knight (11) dribbles the basketball during the 2015 NBA All Star Skills Challenge competition at Barclays Center. Mandatory Credit: Brad Penner-USA TODAY Sports
So close, yet so far.
That cliché sums up Brandon Knight’s performance at the 2015 NBA All-Star Skills Challenge on Saturday night. Knight represented the Bucks very well but ultimately couldn’t overcome a very clutch Patrick Beverley (aka Pat-Bev) in the final round of the challenge.
The way the Skills Challenge was set up this year was noticeably different from years past. Instead of being individual runs though the basketball obstacle course the challenge was in tournament form: participants had to complete the course before their matchup could. The skills course consisted of dribbling through dummy players (actual dummies, Larry Sanders was not in attendance), making a chest pass through a target, making a lay-up and finally making a three. It’s a lot harder than it would seem just based on that description though.
(Quick disclaimer here. I’m going to link the videos to each matchup early on in describing them. If you really enjoy reading sometimes-suspenseful sportswriting do not click the links before finishing the paragraph)
Round one consisted of some interesting matchups. It started with Pat-Bev squaring off against Isaiah Thomas. Pat-Bev breezed through the obstacles fairly easily, but kept forgetting to grab his basketballs for the next segment afterward. He still managed to knock out Isaiah though, due to some clutch terrible three-point shooting. They both missed all their shot attempts which apparently turns the three-point section into a three feet section. Pat-Bev and Thomas both just kept chucking up misses until one of Beverley’s clunkers rattled into the rim.
The next matchup (Jeff Teague vs Elfrid Payton) went pretty quickly. Payton didn’t seem to be trying to go particularly fast, but Teague sure was. He breezed through the course and drilled a quick three to eliminate Payton from contention. A good Brandon Knight-Trey Burke matchup followed with Burke keeping it close but Knight ultimately pulling out a victory by out shooting Burke from the three-point line. The final first round matchup surprised me. It was Kyle “Big Booty” Lowry (it’s a legitimate nickname, don’t judge me. It’s his secret weapon in the paint. If you watch the Raptors even occasionally you know it’s true.) against Dennis Schroder. I figured Lowry wouldn’t be as fast as Schroder because of the uh, extra weight. But oh was I wrong! Lowry flew through the course and crushed Schroder’s dreams of winning the Skills Challenge.
The semi-finals had me convinced Milwaukee’s own Brandon Knight would walk away with the trophy. They started with a matchup of who I figured was the most dangerous competition to Knight, Jeff Teague against Pat-Bev. But surprisingly enough Pat-Bev managed to hit a three this time and knock off Teague. I have tons of respect for Teague as a pure point guard who can shoot a bit and definitely thought he could be one to knock off BK. When he got knocked out by Pat-Bev I thought BK had the best possible chance to win. I even tweeted it. But BK still had to overcome the ever-dangerous Big Booty first to get to the final round. This matchup really convinced me Knight had this thing won. He made his pass attempt on the first try (he also did this in round one) to take a slight lead over Lowry and never looked back. After beating him to the three-point line BK hit his first three before Big Booty could even shoot in typical Brandon Knight ice-cold fashion.
It was finally time. One of exactly two Bucks participating in All-Star weekend really had a chance to walk away with a trophy. Only Pat-Bev, a defensive specialist from the Houston Rockets (who isn’t even a point guard according to James Harden) stood in the way. Knight beat him in the first phases of the course (Knight hit all his passes on the first try. So much for him only being able to shoot) and had a huge lead when he approached the three-point line. He then had two chances to ice his victory before Pat-Bev could shoot. Unfortunately for Knight and Bucks fans, he just couldn’t hit the shot. And even more unfortunately, Pat-Bev hit his first attempt. The guy who couldn’t pass for most of the contest and couldn’t hit a single three in the first round drained his first attempt to win the 2015 NBA All-Star Skills Challenge.
Although the night didn’t end exactly how Knight anticipated it, he should still be happy with his performance. Second place isn’t bad by any means and he represented Milwaukee very well in Brooklyn, which is really what matters on All-Star weekend anyway.