The Taco Bell Skills challenge was technically the second event on the agenda for All-Star Saturday night in Orlando, but with the first featuring teams of NBA players past and present, along with WNBA players launching half-court shots to ultimately determine the winner, well ... we passed.
The Skills Challenge, though, is a little bit more interesting. It features some of the game’s top guards -- this year’s field consisted of Rajon Rondo, Kyrie Irving, Deron Williams, Russell Westbrook, John Wall, and Tony Parker -- running through an obstacle course of sorts where they need to showcase their dribbling, passing, and shooting abilities.
Tony Parker outlasted the rest of the field with a time of 32.8 seconds in the final round to take home this year’s trophy.
Wall and Rondo actually tied after the first round at 32.8 seconds each, so they had to go head-to-head to determine who would advance. Rondo cruised, but Wall struggled with his jumper, missing three straight which slowed him down considerably. He ended up missing the dunk too, but by that time he was already out, so he threw the ball off the backboard to himself to end his night with an entertaining jam.
Williams was the fastest to finish the first round with a time of 28.3 seconds, but missed four straight jumpers from the top of the circle in the final round which cost him. He finished with a time of 41.4. Rondo had trouble with the bounce pass, missing three in a row before advancing through the course to finish it in 34.6 seconds.
“For me, the bounce pass is key,” Parker said afterward, while answering serious questions about a non-so-serious contest. “You can make the bounce pass, you’re good. And the jump shot too, because you stay for like three hours in the locker room and you’re cold, and you have to take a jump shot like that, it’s tough.”
Not that tough. Parker missed only one bounce pass in his run to the title, and finished with a time of 32.8 seconds that was good enough to win it.
