Sporting Chance

SAN FRANCISCO -- A highlight of the National Basketball Association (NBA) All-Star Saturday program is the 3-point shooting contest, an annual fixture since 1986.

Last weekend, Utah guard Jeff Hornacek claimed his second straight title at the Oakland Arena. He joined two other elimination survivors Dallas' Dirk Nowitzki and Milwaukee's Ray Allen in the finals.

Hornacek, retiring at the end of this season, wasn't particularly impressive in the shootout. He shot 17 points in the 8-man elims then tapered off to 13 on 11-of-25 in the championship round. Nowitzki and Allen both choked down the stretch to save the throne for the Jazz mainstay.

Hornacek, 36, inked a one-year $5.2 Million contract to play for Utah this campaign. He would've hung up his sneakers before this season if not for the chance to make another title bid with aging teammates John Stockton, 37, and Karl Malone, 36. Titleless Utah has qualified for the NBA Finals in two of the last three years.

Not too many fans know that a few hours before Hornacek won the crown, another shootout took place at center court of a makeshift 300,000 square-foot park under a huge tent beside the Oakland Arena. The "other" shootout was shown on NBA.com TV -- the league's newly-inaugurated, 24-hour limited cable TV service. The more popular regular shootout was televised on the TNT network and beamed world-wide.

The "other" shootout was a little more dramatic -- the four gunslingers showed up at high noon. They were Orlando's Darrell Armstrong, Golden State's Vonteego Cummings, Miami's Tim Hardaway, and Allen.

The rules are different.

In the regular shootout, each contestant has 60 seconds to knock in as many baskets from around the 3-point arc, using five balls in five racks. A rack contains four one-point brown balls and a single two-point colored "money" ball.

In the "other" shootout, each player attempts shots from eight designated spots in the halfcourt. A player must make a shot from a spot to move to the next. The winner is the player who converts the shots from the eight spots in the shortest period of time.

The eight spots are at the top of the key, two in each quartercourt 18 feet away, two in each quartercourt from 3-point range, two in each corner from 3-point range, and an angular spot about 35 feet away near the sideline.

Since Antawn Jamison backed out of the Rookie Challenge because of an injury, Cummings was the only Golden State Warrior whom hometown fans could cheer for during the recent All-Star Weekend. The rookie didn't disappoint the partisans.

In the preliminary round, Hardaway led the way, pumping in 8-of-14 in 55 seconds. Cummings was second and despite a 0-of-4 start from top of the circle, wound up at 8-of-14 in 56 seconds. Cummings buried his last four attempts -- an incredible feat, considering three of the shots were from 3-point distance. Armstrong sank 8-of-16 in 58 seconds and Allen, 8-of-39 in 1:55. Allen struggled in the last spot, flubbing 21 shots before finally canning the 35-footer.

The top two elims finishers, Cummings and Hardaway, advanced to square off in the finals. NBA.com TV host Carlos Diaz tapped Hardaway to shoot ahead but the Heat guard declined. "I'm a veteran and he's a rookie so he goes first," growled Hardaway. Then he made a bold prediction, "I'm going to win because I'm a clutch ball player."

Cummings didn't object to shooting ahead and went on to bury 8-of-16 in 60 seconds flat. He knocked in his first three shots and four of his last six. Hardaway got caught up in his own hype. He bricked his first five attempts and netted 8-of-21 in 1:17. So Cummings gave the Warrior fans something to be proud of that weekend.

Cummings received $5,000 for his efforts. The money was donated to charity.

In contrast, Hornacek took home $25,000 and kept the cash in his bank account.

The NBA borrowed the Freshmen versus Sophomores format from the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) in its Rookie Challenge. Perhaps, the PBA might want to borrow in turn and experiment with the "other" shootout format in its own version of the All-Star Weekend this year. It's something new for the fans -- and the players, a little more challenging, and more exciting.