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New Orleans • Gordon Hayward is ready for the All-Star game.
The weekend has been great for him, including Saturday night's second-place finish in the skills challenge, where the Jazz forward was edged out by New York Knicks big man Kristaps Porzingis.
But Hayward is getting a bit antsy to make his All-Star debut on Sunday. And who can really blame him? The pinnacle of his career to date is closing in.
"I'm definitely ready to get to the game, that's for sure," Hayward said. "It's all gone by so fast. I feel good physically, and this weekend has been a lot of fun. Tonight was fun too, so I'm just taking it all in. Tonight was one of the best parts of the weekend."
Hayward's second-place finish didn't excite him as a competitor: "Second place is just the first loser," is how he put it.
At the same time, Hayward gave a good account of himself. In the first round, he trailed Washington Wizards guard John Wall for most of the obstacle course, before rallying and hitting the clinching 3-pointer at the end.
The second round was a repeat for Hayward, as he trailed Boston Celtics guard Isaiah Thomas for much of the course. Then, both missed a number of 3-pointers before Hayward was able to advance with a shot from deep.
"I thought for sure Isaiah would've beat me then," Hayward said. "I was way off, but he just happened to miss. I actually thought I was going to lose in the first round, but John missed then, too."
The irony is Hayward led Porzingis in the finals for most of the course, but lost at the end when he missed a 3-pointer, allowing Porzingis to rally and make his first 3. In the skills challenge format of big men versus little men, a big won the event for the second consecutive season.
"It's a good thing," Hayward said. "It means that we have some skilled bigs in this league and that's a good thing for the game. I'm sure we'll have a little man take the event at some point soon."
The rest of Saturday night saw Houston Rockets guard Eric Gordon winning the 3-point contest. The dunk contest went to Indiana Pacers forward Glen Robinson III.
Gordon and Cleveland Cavaliers star Kyrie Irving were tied at the end of the final round. Gordon won the extra rack, taking home first place at Smoothie King Center, where he previously spent much of his career.
"It wasn't weird for me," Gordon said. "I'm used to these rims here, because I was here for five years. I've always been a pretty good shooter. I'm just happy to win it. It was great to represent Houston in this event. This is a unique event. Towards the end, you get a little tired. I was just all about focusing on knocking down the shot."
The dunk contest turned out to be disappointing. Robinson's last dunk was the winner, a perfect 50, going over three people for a reverse dunk and nearly touching his head on the rim. But defending champion Aaron Gordon went out meekly in the early rounds, Los Angeles Clippers center DeAndre Jordan didn't excite the judges and the contest featured more missed dunks than made dunks.
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