SAN FRANCISCO — Damian Lillard was returning to his native Bay Area to be crowned and take his place among the legends of the 3-point contest.
Except, it wasn’t his night — it was Tyler Herro’s.
Lillard, the two-time defending 3-Point Contest champion — didn’t get out of the first round of the event, having an off night and putting up a score of 17. The first round belonged to the Warriors’ Buddy Hield, who energized his home crowd with the best round of the event, 31 points.
Herro came in third in that first round and barely advanced to the championship round against Hield and Darius Garland (those first-round scores do not carry over). However, in the second round, he felt more comfortable — and warmer.
“Definitely going first helped,” Herro said of leading off the championship round. “Also, it felt cold in the arena the first time I went. For the second time, I felt more loose going right away. Then like I said, having a bunch of great shooters, I think putting a number down right away, putting a little pressure on them, I think that played a factor.”
That number was 24.
Garland put up a 19 in the second round. Hield finished with a 22 but was done in by a slow start, so slow that by the end he had to sink all five of the two-point Moneyball shots from the corner to tie things up. He hit four.
“Tough one. Bad start. It’s all good, though,” Hield said. “Bad start, though.”
Herro joins Glenn Rice (1995), Jason Kapono (2007), Daequan Cook (2009) and James Jones (2011) as Miami Heat players who have won the 3-point contest.
