Feb. 15--REPORTING FROM NEW YORK -- Try as he might, Stephen Curry could never win the three-point shooting contest during NBA All-Star weekend. Three previous attempts, three previous failures.
The All-Star point guard from Golden State finally won Saturday, among what many called the best field ever.
Curry made 13 of his last 14 attempts and easily captured the championship round over Cleveland's Kyrie Irving and Warriors teammate Klay Thompson.
Curry had 27 points in the championship round while Irving had 17 and Thompson 14 at Barclays Center in Brooklyn.
How deep was the contest?
Kyle Korver, the league-leader in three-point accuracy (an impressive 52.3%), didn't even make it past the first round. Neither did Marco Belinelli, last year's champion in this event.
Korver and Belinelli tied for fifth out of eight participants with 18 points. Portland's Wesley Matthews was fourth in the first round with 22 points.
The Clippers' J.J. Redick finished seventh with 17 points, ahead of only Houston's James Harden at 15.
Many analysts and players called it the best three-point talent ever, LeBron James saying ahead of time it was "the greatest field we've seen."
In earlier competitions Saturday, Rockets guard Patrick Beverly on the Skills Challenge while Chris Bosh, Dominique Wilkins and Swin Cash won their third straight Shooting Stars event.
The Slam Dunk contest was the final competition scheduled for Saturday.
The NBA All-Star game will begin at 4 p.m. PST Sunday at Madison Square Garden.
