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Tim BontempsESPN
CLEVELAND — Minnesota Timberwolves center Karl-Anthony Towns demanded an answer as he bounded into the interview room following the 3-point contest at Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse on Saturday night.
“Who bet against me?” Towns asked with an ear-to-ear grin.
Whoever did, lost.
Towns, thanks to a record-setting 29 points in the final round, emerged as the winner of the 2022 3-point contest, edging out Atlanta Hawks guard Trae Young and LA Clippers guard Luke Kennard, who each put up 26. Towns was 13-1 at Caesars Sportsbook, the longest odds in the field.
Towns is the first big man to win the 3-point contest since Kevin Love in 2012. At 6-foot-11, he is the second-tallest winner of the contest; Dirk Nowitzki, who is 7-0, won it in 2006.
Towns, who said he lobbied the league for years to participate, barely escaped the opening round of the competition, taking a deep breath before burying his final shot, which turned out to be just enough to advance to the final round.
From there, he took off, although he was mad afterward that he blew a chance to get to at least 30, the number he expected would be needed to win the contest.
“I’m super happy to win,” Towns said. “It’s great, but I just have such high standards for myself. … I’m the biggest critic of myself. There’s no writer, no blogger, no one who could critique and be more harsher on their game than me on my game. So I was so messed up about not getting the 30. … I thought 30 was what I was going to need to win in the final round. I was able to scrape by with 29.”
Towns wore a chain in honor of his late mother, Jacqueline, after the league made an exception to its policy prohibiting jewelry from being worn during the event. Jacqueline Cruz-Towns died due to complications from COVID-19 in April 2020.
In Saturday night’s final round, Towns flew around the arc and set a mark that, ultimately, Kennard and Young couldn’t reach.
Things went according to script for Towns, with his preference…
Source : espn
