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The five best NBA 3-point contests ever

By Luke Norris

TORONTO, ON- FEBRUARY 13: Stephen Curry watches as teammate Klay Thompson competes in the three point competition during the NBA's All-Star Saturday Night. Where players compete in three events, the Skills Challenge, 3-point shooting and Slam Dunk at the in Toronto. February 13, 2016. (Steve Russell/Toronto Star via Getty Images)
TORONTO, ON- FEBRUARY 13: Stephen Curry watches as teammate Klay Thompson competes in the three point competition during the NBA's All-Star Saturday Night. Where players compete in three events, the Skills Challenge, 3-point shooting and Slam Dunk at the in Toronto. February 13, 2016. (Steve Russell/Toronto Star via Getty Images) /
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Take a look back at the five best NBA 3-Point Contests in history.

Since its inception in 1986, the NBA 3-Point Contest (or Shootout as it was known in the early years) has become one of the most anticipated events of NBA All-Star Weekend and has featured some of the game’s all-time great shooters. From Reggie Miller, who surprisingly never won one of these, to Ray Allen to Mark Price to Dirk Nowitzki and a few surprise winners in there as well, this event is extremely entertaining to watch. And yes, there have also been some not-so-entertaining contests with some players that thought they needed to be there but really didn’t belong. Anyone remember Michael Jordan tying the record low with just five points in 1990? I bet Portland wishes he could have that kind of shooting percentage in Game 1 of the 1992 NBA Finals, am I right?

As with everything involved in All-Star Weekend, some contests are better than others. So without further delay, here are five of the best 3-point contests in NBA history.

5. 2012

Participants: Kevin Love, Kevin Durant, James Jones, Anthony Morrow, Ryan Anderson, Mario Chalmers

While there weren’t a lot of stars, at least to the casual fan, this one featured some of the best shooters in the league that season. James Jones was the defending champion and had beaten Ray Allen and Paul Pierce in the finals the previous year. Mario Chalmers was fifth in 3-point percentage coming in and Ryan Anderson and Anthony Morrow, who wore a Drazen Petrovic jersey, led the league in 3s made coming in. Kevin Love and Kevin Durant, both of whom are obviously excellent players, brought a little star power to the show.

Jones led the way in the first round with 22 out of a possible 30 points (the money ball rack wasn’t added until two years later) and Kevin Durant was right behind him with 20, making up for his embarrassing showing the year before when he only scored six. Love and Chalmers both scored 18 while Ryan Anderson had 17 and Morrow pumped in 14, making this one of the best first rounds in contest history. With Anderson and Morrow already eliminated, Love and Chalmers went to a 24-second shootout to decide who would join Jones and Durant in the finals, with Love winning 5-4 to make his way into the final trio.

Jones was considerably cooler in the finals, putting up just 12 points but the drama was far from over as Love and Durant both scored 16 points, meaning that Love would once again have to take part in a shootout. And once again, Love was able to come out on top, winning the tiebreaker 17-14 and claiming the title. In all, Love took more than 80 shots in the contest on his way to victory.

A hand injury would keep Love from defending his title the following year. He did participate in 2014 but didn’t make it past the first round.

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