Devin Harris started off the competition sloppy, missing on both chest pass locations. Harris missed one jumpshot too, finishing with a time of 36.9 seconds.

Mo Williams came up and dogged it, going through the pylons really slow. He had trouble with the bounce pass zone and even had a little interference from the ball boy. He finished with a time of 37.5 seconds.

Rose didn’t seem to give it a full effort in the first round. But he did good in all of the passing zones, hitting all the passes on the first try. He missed one jumpshot. But he cruised to a 33.3 second time to cheers from Benny the Bull to qualify for the finals.

Tony Parker came out and did horrible, bouncing his first set of passes over and over again. He then bricked jumpshot after jumpshot and finished with a pathetic time of 50.8 seconds.

The championship round set up as Derrick Rose versus Devin Harris.

Devin Harris opened up the finals round. He struggled with the bounce pass and missed three jumpshots to finish with a time of 39.7 seconds, leaving it open for just a solid round by Derrick Rose needed to bring home the victory.

Derrick just cruised through the round. He had little mishaps, missing a jumpshot and the pass after the jumpshot. But Rose exploded to the finish with a thunderous dunk. Rose finished with a time of 35.3 seconds

After the competition, Rose told Cheryl Miler that the bounce pass was the toughest part of the competition.

Prior to the contest, none of the TNT analysts picked Rose to win the contest. That includes Ernie Johnson and Kenny Smith, both who did not pick Rose as their winner earlier on Inside the NBA.

With that, Derrick Rose is the winner of the 2009 Playstation’s Skills Challenge.

Derrick Rose didn’t have a spectacular game in his first Allstar event of his NBA career. It’s not that he was bad in the competition, he was just being Derrick Rose. He played exactly as he plays for the Bulls and unfortunately, that isn’t that conducive to great play during an event like this. Still, Rose did finish with 4 points and 7 assists.

It would have been nice to see the Rookies get out and run a little more, but when players gave the ball to Rose, players often didn’t run the court, and often times, they wouldn’t even outlet the ball to Rose to initiate the fast break.

The Rookies actually looked really good tonight, it looked like they were going to win for awhile. But the Sophomore surged back, led by Kevin Durant, and got the win for the Sophomores.

This year’s game was a little bit different than past games. There was actually defense being played. I think a large part of this had to do with Dwight Howard and Dwyane Wade being the coaches of the teams. These are two competitive guys, and both wanted to win this game. Unfortunately for Wade, he was coaching the rookies, who began to have defensive lapses late in the game.

Kevin Durant gained MVP honors for his 46 points performance. Durant was by far the best player on the floor and used an arsenal of offensive moves to score at will on the Rookies. His 46 points are the most ever scored in the Rookie-Sophomore game, or any Allstar Weekend event for that matter.

The second overall pick in the draft, Michael Beasley, had a great game, scoring 29 points. Beasley showed off his great offensive skills, and really carried the Rookies on his back for a bit in the second half. One had to wonder why Beasley doesn’t make use of his great set of offensive moves more often in regular games. He is a really talented offensive player, he just needs to get his focus together. Once he does that, no one should be questioning whether the Heat should have taken Michael Beasley or O.J. Mayo with that second pick. With his teammate, Wade, as his coach, it was clear that Beasley was going to be the point of emphasis for the Rookies on offense.

I think longterm, Rose will look better when he is in the big game. The true stars of the league will probably get out running, and Rose will be able to set them up for more plays. Rose should also do better in the Skills Challenge then he did tonight, as his performance will not be tied to his teammates.

Last week ESPN misreported that Ben Gordon would be a participant in the NBA’s H-O-R-S-E Challenge at Allstar Weekend. The Chicago media reported that Gordon was in consideration for the H-O-R-S-E contest. In the end, Gordon will not be one of the participants in the H-O-R-S-E competion.

The NBA has chosen Kevin Durant, O.J. Mayo, and Joe Johnson as the participants for the competition.

It was not too shocking that the NBA would choose three players who are already part of other festivities at Allstar Weekend over Ben Gordon, who the NBA would have to fly out and pay for a hotel room for.

Because the Bulls do not have a team participating in this year’s Haier Shooting Stars Competition, Ben Gordon will have to wait until next year to participate in the Allstar festivities after being snubbed from the Three Point Contest.

He has never been the flashiest player in the league, although his late game scoring bouts have electrified the United Center crowd. The announcers of opposing teams rave about how he has one of the most deadly shots in the league, but he has never been invited to the three point contest. How does it feel to be the greatest, but not desired? You would have to ask Ben Gordon about that one.

photo by radiospike.com

Standing at 708 career three pointers, Ben Gordon is just 43 three pointers away from breaking Nick Van Exel’s record for most three pointers by a player in their first five years in the league. To break this record, Gordon would just have to make 1.35 three pointers per a game for the remainder of the season, Gordon is currently averaging 2.2 three pointers per a game this season.

Gordon did not get to this point by just taking an absurd volume of three pointers.  He did it by being accurate. Out of the top 100 players in three pointers made in their first five years in the league, only two players: Mark Price at #82 with 358 three pointers made and Hubert Davis, down at #90 with 333 three pointers made, have a higher three point percentage than Gordon’s 41.5%.

However, when the NBA unveiled the contestants for the three point contest yesterday, Gordon was left off, in favor of Mike Bibby, Daequan Cook, Danny Granger, Jason Kapono, Rashard Lewis, and Roger Mason Jr.

A strong case could have been made for Gordon participating this year. He is currently fifth in the NBA this year in three pointers made with 111 three pointers. Daequan Cook is the most curious inclusion as Gordon has the same three point percentage, but more three pointers made.

But this isn’t just about this year. It is about the last five years, where Gordon has been snubbed from the contest year after year. This begs for the following question to be asked, “How can a player be able to become the greatest young player in league history to shoot the three point shot, but not be deemed good enough to receive an invite to the three point contest during the NBA’s Allstar Weekend?”

He is the Chicago Bulls’ all-time three point shooter, breaking Scottie Pippen’s record earlier this year.  He has the 10th highest career three point percentage in NBA history and is fourth among active players.

Back in January, Gordon was ready to receive disappointing news regarding the contest, saying, “No, it’s not a big deal to me. But it is something that would be nice to be a part of. I’ve never been in a contest like that before. It would definitely be fun.”

“I remember one year they had Damon Jones in there,” Gordon said. “I think sometimes they look for the personalities, too. I really don’t know how they select. We’ll see what happens.”

Ben Gordon probably still is confused on the selection process, as is everyone else.

What will it take for Gordon to prove that he deserves to be in the contest when being the best is not enough? It is a shame that during Allstar Weekend, in the NBA greatness is not desired.

According to ESPN’s Daily Dime, Ben Gordon will participate in the Allstar Weekend H.O.R.S.E. competition. Earlier today, it was reported that Ben Gordon was not invited to the three point shootout, despite being one of the best long range shooters in the league since being drafted in 2004.

Ben Gordon will square off against Dirk Nowitzki of the Dallas Mavericks, Kevin Garnett of the Boston Celtics, and Dwyane Wade of the Miami Heat.

It seems as if Gordon will do quite well in this contest. Gordon has made a career out of making ridiculously hard shots. Dwyane Wade has the advantage of great body control for the shots close to the basket. Dirk and Garnett have the advantage of being taller for the close to the basket shots. Ben Gordon’s advantage is being by far the best shooter of the group.

This event, if Gordon is able to pull off the win, will be a bit bigger than a win in the three point contest, as Gordon will be going up against actual superstars of the NBA in this contest. Hopefully Ben does well here.

NEW ORLEANS — Considering he hadn’t heard from the league office as of Tuesday, Ben Gordon won’t be surprised that the NBA just released the six players to participate in the Three-Point Shootout during All-Star weekend and his name wasn’t included.

Toronto’s Jason Kapono, Indiana’s Danny Granger, Orlando’s Rashard Lewis, former Bull and current Spur Roger Mason Jr., and Atlanta’s Mike Bibby and Miami’s Daequan Cook are the shooters.

Gordon’s .409 percentage is higher than Granger’s, who is at .401. With 108 made three-pointers, Gordon ranks behind only Lewis, Bibby and Granger.

“I would go,” Gordon said recently when asked about the event. “But I’m not expecting to.”

Source: Chicago Tribune

This is just very disappointing and is a great injustice by the NBA. I will have more on Ben Gordon and the three point contest in a special commentary tommorrow.

According to Boston.com, TNT has announced that it will include a H.O.R.S.E. contest to allstar weekend.

TNT today announced the addition of the shot-making game H-O-R-S-E to its programming lineup during its four days of NBA All-Star 2009 coverage from Feb. 12-15, in Phoenix. The H-O-R-S-E game will air live during TNT’s two-hour Inside the NBA from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. ET on Sat., Feb. 14.

Participants for the event have yet to be announced.

This is another potential contest that either Derrick Rose or Ben Gordon could participate in as both have made many great circus shots over their careers. It would be preferable for Gordon to participate in the three point contest, as that is more of a skills contest, if comes down to an either or situation.

Lebron James probably shouldn’t be invited after losing to David Kalb in a game of H.O.R.S.E.