INDIANAPOLIS — It took a pair of tiebreakers, but the hometown Team Pacers started NBA All-Star Saturday night off with a victory in the Skills Challenge.
After Team All-Stars won the final challenge to tie the score at 200, the two teams faced off in a halfcourt challenge. Tyrese Haliburton clinched the victory by draining his shot for Team Pacers, who won in roughly half the time it took Team All-Stars.
Team Pacers comprised Haliburton, Bennedict Mathurin and Myles Turner, while Team All-Stars was made up of three Eastern Conference All-Stars: Atlanta Hawks guard Trae Young, Toronto Raptors forward Scottie Barnes and Philadelphia 76ers guard Tyrese Maxey.
The third team involved in the Skills Challenge was Team Top Picks, which featured 2020 No. 1 pick Anthony Edwards, 2022 No. 1 pick Paolo Banchero and 2023 No. 1 pick Victor Wembanyama.
Haliburton put an exclamation point on Team Pacers’ win in the first challenge, a relay event, finishing things off by going between his legs to throw it off the glass before hitting a dunk for the emphatic win.
Team Top Picks had a chance at winning the first challenge, but the right-handed Edwards opted to shoot his 3-pointers left-handed, missing all three.
The second challenge was a passing event and brought on a tiebreaker when Team Pacers and Team All-Stars each finished with 72 points. In the tiebreaker, Team Pacers earned a 92-90 win.
In the final shooting round, Team All-Stars dominated the event to tie the contest since the first two challenges were worth 100 points and the final round was worth 200. Team All-Stars took 58.8 seconds to hit its halfcourt shot in the tiebreaker, opening the door for Haliburton to earn the victory for his team.
This story originally appeared on ESPN
