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It is not very often that an NBA team has two worthy candidates of making the Footlocker NBA Three Point Contest during the all-star weekend. This year the Boston Celtics have that honor as both Eddie House and Paul Pierce are very strong candidates to be in the contest during all-star weekend. Both players have come out and said they want to be included in the contest, and they both have the stats and achievements to back it up.
Eddie House has always been known as a great three point shooter but has never really been recognized by the league for it. House has never been involved in the three point contest and is really making a strong campaign to be involved this year. Although he isn’t having the best of shooting years he still is shooting a respectable 37.1% from behind the arc, and has capitalized on 49 three point attempts. Recently Eddie braved the cold weather in Boston to go out and rain down some three point baskets at an outside court in the Boston area. Celtics.com had all the coverage.
Paul Pierce himself has not been shy when it comes to displaying his hopes to participate in the competition this year. As I noted in a previous article on Gino’s Jungle, Pierce is hoping to prove himself in the competition and erase the bad memories he had in 2002. Pierce is currently tied for the third best three point shooting percentage in the league at 46.7% and he has capitalized on 64 of his attempts. Pierce recently commented on his performance in the 2002 contest.
Via A. Sherrod Blakely:
"“I remember,” he said. “I would like to redeem myself for years back when I went out there and had a pitiful performance,” Pierce said. “It would be nice to get a call on that, show people what I got.”"
It is very unlikely that both these players will be participating in the competition so that in itself may bring a little bit of fun competition amongst the two. Actually, it already has. It was recently reported by Gary Dzen that Pierce and House were having a small competition amongst themselves before the game against the Bulls last night.
Viz Gary Dzen (Boston Globe Staff Writer):
"House was just joined by Paul Pierce, who challenged him to a shooting contest.”You want to shoot against one of the best shooters of all-time?” Pierce said.“One of the best scorers of all time,” House said, correcting Pierce. “You’re going into the Hall of Fame as one of the best scorers of all-time.”"
It’s good to see some fun competition between these two, hopefully they keep it fun and keep making each other better. Dzen said he’s putting his money on Pierce, I think I have to agree. I think that Pierce is a much better shooter than Eddie when stationary; however, if shots had to be put up off the pass I think I would be more likely to put my money on House. It will be very interesting to see which, or if either one of these guys gets invited to participate in the competition.
Do you want the token three point shooter in Eddie House or the red hot three point shooter Paul Pierce to represent the Celtics? Let us know by dropping a comment in the comment box.