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NBA ALL-STAR CONTESTS: Joe Harris tops Stephen Curry for 3-point title

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Brooklyn's Joe Harris held off Golden State's Stephen Curry to win the 3-point contest at All-Star Saturday night.

[WSOC-TV Photos: NBA All-Star Celebrity Game at Bojangles Arena]

Harris made 12 consecutive shots at one point in the final round on his way to a score of 26 points. Curry was second with 24 in the finals, and Sacramento's Buddy Hield was third with 19 points.

The Warriors' star made his first nine shots of the final round, then missed three of five shots from the top of the key.

Stephen Curry won the first round with 27 points out of a possible of 34. Hield was second with 26 points, and Harris finished with 25 to grab the last spot in the finals.

Stephen Curry was asked what it was like to play Charlotte.

“It’s everything I imagined to be,” Curry said after the contest. “It’s a different energy. You know I’m from here. I think I’ve done five of these [before this year]. This was definitely my favorite one because of the atmosphere and my history in this city.”

[LINK: Official NBA All-Star Weekend webpage]

There were 10 players in the event, and seven went out in the first round.

Defending champion Devin Booker made his final seven shots but was eliminated in a tie for fourth with Danny Green with 23 points. The other competitors who did not advance: Dirk Nowitzki and Damian Lillard (17), Seth Curry (16), Kemba Walker (15) and Khris Middleton (11).

OKC's Diallo leaps over Shaq to win dunk contest

Oklahoma City's Hamidou Diallo is the NBA's slam dunk champion.

Going over Shaquille O'Neal in the first round, then getting a boost from rapper Quavo in the finale, Diallo soared to the crown by topping New York's Dennis Smith Jr.

Diallo topped Smith 88-85 in the finale. Charlotte's Miles Bridges and Atlanta's John Collins went out in the first round.

Smith leapfrogged Miami's Dwyane Wade and took a lob from Stephen Curry to give himself a chance with his last dunk, getting a perfect score from the judges - and a round of boos from the crowd, many of whom weren't that impressed.

That left Diallo as the night's final participant.

Diallo pulled off a dunk that will be talked about for years in the first round - dunking over O'Neal, hanging on the rim by his elbow, then tearing open his jersey to reveal a "Superman" shirt underneath. And then he plucked the ball from Quavo as he went airborne for the dunk that sealed the title.

Boston's Jayson Tatum wins skills competition

Boston's Jayson Tatum hit a 3-pointer from just beyond midcourt to beat Atlanta's Trae Young in the final round of the skills competition at All-Star Saturday night.

Tatum defeated Memphis' Mike Conley in the first round, then topped Denver's Nikola Jokic in the semifinals.

Tatum was slightly behind Young going into the 3-pointer, the final shot of the event, and decided he needed to try the long shot to get one in before Young could shoot for the title.

Tatum says the trophy will go to his mother's home. He says he was "just out here trying to have fun. I threw one up and it went in."

Jokic defeated Orlando's Nikola Vucevic, Young beat Sacramento's De'Aaron Fox and Dallas' Luka Doncic topped the Los Angeles Lakers' Kyle Kuzma in other first-round matchups. Young beat Doncic in the semifinals.

Currys place family wager on 3-point competition

UPDATE: Steph Curry won the bet against his brother.

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The Curry brothers have levied a wager for their head-to-head competition in Saturday night's NBA 3-point contest: Whoever loses must buy tickets for the entire Curry family anytime they play against each other for the remainder of their NBA careers.

Stephen said Saturday before practice for the All-Star game that "the stakes are pretty high considering how many people show up for our games."

It's unclear if the group will include a new sister-in-law. There are reports that Seth has proposed to Callie Rivers, the daughter of NBA coach Doc Rivers. When asked about it Saturday, Seth declined to talk about their relationship.

Hornets’ Walker, Bridges to show off skills Saturday night

The Charlotte Hornets’ Kemba Walker will participate in the MTN DEW 3-Point Contest Friday night at the Spectrum Center in uptown. This is Walker’s second time in the competition.

He is also starting in the NBA All-Star Game Sunday night, and he said it’s been a whirlwind since he was named a starter.

His teammate, Miles Bridges, will show off his skills in the AT&T Slam Dunk contest. He hopes to emulate the all-time great performance by Vince Carter in 2000.

Saturday night’s events begin with the Taco Bell Skills Challenge at 8 p.m.

Stephen, who won the 3-point competition in 2015, says he is motivated to win it again because he's "knows for a fact" that everybody else in the Curry family -including his parents- are pulling for Seth.

Stephen says with a laugh, "so I hope to pull the upset."

Both players are hoping to do better than their father Dell Curry, who participated in the 3-point contest twice but never made it out of the first round. Seth, making his first appearance, says Dell advised them to "do a whole lot better than I did."

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