bingewatches

The Taco Bell Skills Challenge went through quite the change this year, with a new team format that featured four separate events that were added together for the team’s total points. The teams were three rookies (Scottie Barnes, Cade Cunningham, and Josh Giddey), the Antetokounmpo brothers (Giannis, Thanasis, and Alex), and the Cavs (Darius Garland, Jarrett Allen, and Evan Mobley).

They would compete in three competitions — shooting, passing, and a relay — before a halfcourt shootout for the title. The shooting competition opened with a solid rookie performance, a shaky effort from the Antetokounmpos, and then the Cavs dominating thanks to Evan Mobley and Darius Garland going off from three-point range.

After the Antetokoumpo brothers took a chaotic passing contest (this is probably the portion that needs the most work), they and the Cavs were tied with two events to go. In the relay, the Rookies won to advance to the finals, where a halfcourt shootout would decide the winner. As for who they would face, with the Cavs and Antetokounmpos tied, Garland and Thanasis went shot for shot from the top of the key to advance, and unsurprisingly Garland hit his first three to knock out the brothers.

In the halfcourt shot challenge, Cade Cunningham found the bottom of the net in just 9.9 seconds, setting the bar high for the Cavs to follow. Mobley had the answer though, drilling his first halfcourt shot to steal the prestigious Skills Challenge trophy away from his fellow rookies and keep the title for the hometown team.

It was an interesting change to the format, and really they should just do the relay (maybe add an extra pass) and the halfcourt shootout and tighten this thing up a bunch more. While it dragged on a bit, in the end they got to an entertaining finish and there were some genuinely cool moments as the home crowd erupted for the efforts of their Cavs.