NBA All-Star Saturday Night kicked off in style with the Shooting Stars competition at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn. For the third consecutive year, Team Bosh walked away from the event with the championship thanks to a final-round time of 57.6 seconds.
Here's how the NBA's official Twitter recognized the three-peat champions:
Russell Westbrook's team appeared to set the tone in the first round, though it didn't appear that way at first. Tamika Catchings struggled to make the first shot until the 17-second mark, but Penny Hardaway nailed the half-court shot to get a time of 35.2 seconds in the first round.
Here's what the first round for Team Westbrook looked like, via NBA.com:
However, the defending champions would not go down without a fight. Chris Bosh, Dominique Wilkins and Swin Cash were terrific once again in the first round, recording a time of 30.8 seconds.
Bosh was the one who hit the half-court shot in the first round, which gave him quite the record that may never be touched, per Zach Harper of CBS Sports:
Bosh would miss the half-court shots in the final round, but Dominique Wilkins came through in the clutch with his light touch. Despite being off in the championship round, the Miami Heat star did gain the approval of ESPN's Skip Bayless:
This is how Team Bosh secured the championship, via NBA.com:
The final round wasn't nearly as kind to Team Westbrook, though it started much better than the first. The players were at the half-court shot in under 20 seconds, but they went 0-of-26 from half court to run out the 90-second time limit.
Given the success that Bosh's team has had in the Shooting Stars Challenge, CBS Sports' NBA Twitter account started throwing around the "D" word:
While some may not put this honor on the same level as Bosh's NBA championships with the Heat, ESPN's Ethan Strauss did note that this group has had more success than the Big Three did in Miami:
Harper also wasn't afraid to ask the question that was on the minds of so many viewers after watching Team Bosh steamroll the competition once again:
You can't shy away from the difficult questions, but I will go ahead and say that the 1992 Dream Team with Michael Jordan, Larry Bird, Magic Johnson, et al. would have been able to take Team Bosh in a game of three-on-three.
What isn't up for debate, however, is that no one has found the formula to defeat Team Bosh in the Shooting Stars Challenge. Whatever mojo Bosh, Wilkins and Cash have established since 2013 is working. This year wasn't even a fair fight, but next year should provide an all-new challenge.
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