NBA All-Star Weekend 2022: Karl-Anthony Towns, Obi Toppin win big

Updated Feb 19, 2022 11:11 pm EST

NBA All-Star Saturday Night 2022 was one for the books.

Team Cavs came out on top in the Skills Challenge, Karl-Anthony Towns won the 3-Point Contest — the first center to ever do so — and Obi Toppin came away victorious in the Slam Dunk Contest.

Here are the top moments and highlights from All-Star Saturday Night.

Skills Challenge

Three teams of three players took part in a four-round competition that tested their shooting, passing and relay abilities. 

Scottie Barnes (Toronto Raptors), Cade Cunningham (Detroit Pistons) and Josh Giddey (Oklahoma City Thunder) made up Team Rooks, Milwaukee Bucks teammates Giannis Antetokounmpo and Thanasis and youngest brother Alex — who is on the Raptors' G League team — made up Team Antetokounmpos, and Cleveland Cavaliers trio Jarrett Allen, Darius Garland and Evan Mobley made up Team Cavs.

Round one went to Team Cavs, who put up 44 points in the opening shooting portion of the competition, while Team Rooks put up 32 points and the Antetokounmpos put up 20 points.

The second round was all about passing. The Antetokounmpos won with 88 points, which tied them with Teams Cavs heading into the third round, the team relay round where the rookie trio came out on top.

After a tiebreaker, the two teams with the most challenge points through the first three rounds — Team Rooks and Team Cavs — advanced to the final round (half-court shot).

Thanks to Cunningham, Team Rooks took 9.9 seconds (seven shots) to make a half-court shot, while Mobley nailed one in just 5.5 seconds on Team Cavs' second shot to seal the win. 

3-Point Contest

Desmond Bane (Memphis Grizzlies), Luke Kennard (LA Clippers), Zach LaVine (Chicago Bulls), CJ McCollum (New Orleans Pelicans), Patty Mills (Brooklyn Nets), Trae Young (Atlanta Hawks), Fred VanVleet (Raptors) and Towns (Minnesota Timberwolves) participated in this year's 3-Point Contest.

These eight participants shot at the typical five locations along the arc with four racks of four regular balls (one point) and one money ball (two points), plus one special rack of five money balls. 

Two "MTN DEW Zones" that held one green ball worth three points sat six feet behind the 3-point line. With the addition of these zones, the NBA increased the time limit from 60 seconds to 70 seconds and the maximum score from 34 points to 40 points. 

The three highest-scoring players from the first round — Kennard, Towns and Young — advanced to the second and final round, where big man Towns was crowned the winner with a record-setting high score of 29.

The first-round scores were: Bane (18), McCollum (19), Kennard (28), LaVine (14), Mills (21), Towns (22), VanVleet (16), Young (22). The second-round scores were: Towns (29), Young and Kennard (26).

Slam Dunk Contest

Cole Anthony (Orlando Magic), Juan Toscano-Anderson (Golden State Warriors), Jalen Green (Houston Rockets) and Toppin (New York Knicks) participated in the NBA's marquee Saturday night event.

To kick things off, each player attempted two dunks in the first round.

Anthony ditched his sneakers for Timberlands for his first first-round dunk, where he earned a score of 40.

Toscano-Anderson flew over the head of 6′ 7″ teammate Andrew Wiggins for a score of 44 on his first attempt.

Toppin also scored a 44 on this dazzling dunk, while Green finally snagged a 38 after several attempts.

The 20-year-old Green was up first for the second round of dunks, coming away with a score of 45.

Anthony received a 30 after being unable to connect, while Toscano-Anderson's efforts landed him a 43.

Rounding things out was Toppin, who snagged a solid score of 46 on his first attempt. 

Just like that, the final stage was set.

The two players with the highest combined scores for their first two dunks — Toscano-Anderson and Toppin — advanced to the final round, where they attempted a second pair of dunks. 

Toscano-Anderson earned scores of 39 and 30 on his two attempts for a final score of 69, while Toppin's combined score of 92 (45 and 47) secured the win. He is the third Knick to win the Slam Dunk Contest.

Here's how the sports world reacted to Saturday's competitions.