I honestly care so little about MLS and RSL that I can't even find the energy to copy and paste an article for historical purposes. Here is a link you can click on if you want, but honestly why would you want to?
https://www.rsl.com/news/rsl-comeback-effort-falls-shy-as-2023-campaign-ends-in-houston
"I mean this is like a sick joke. For me personally, this is dark comedy, that I missed a penalty," Rapinoe told FOX Sports.
The entire US soccer community is happy to see this woman go away, nobody likes her.
After all the trash talking she has done off the pitch she goes up to take a penalty in the World Cup and chokes. Then she has the audacity to smile.
A dark comedy? No Megan, you suck, nobody likes you, go away.
There is an old saying that is apropos for Megan and the US Women National team as a whole, "be humble or be humbled".
Just saying.
MLS announces new playoff format for 2023 season
(mlssoccer.com 2-21-23)
Major League Soccer today announced the format and schedule for the Audi 2023 MLS Cup Playoffs and MLS Cup presented by Audi.
Building on the popular single-elimination format, the 2023 MLS postseason will see the addition of a pair of single-elimination Audi MLS Cup Playoffs Wild Card matches ahead of an enhanced Round One, which now includes a Best-of-3 series.
After Decision Day on Oct. 21, the playoff schedule will go as follows:
Wild Card matches: Oct. 25-26
Round One Best-of-3 series matches: Oct. 28-Nov. 12
Conference Semifinals and Conference Finals: Nov. 25-Dec. 3
MLS Cup presented by Audi: Dec. 9.
Qualification:
Seeds 1-7 in each conference will automatically qualify for the Round One Best-of-3 series.
Seeds 8-9 in each conference will qualify for the Audi 2023 MLS Cup Playoffs Wild Card matches.
MLS Cup Playoffs Wildcard Matches (2 games)
Two single-game elimination matches hosted by the higher seed.
If the score of a Wild Card game is tied at the end of regulation, no extra time will be played, teams will participate in kicks from the penalty spot to determine the winner.
The winner of each Wild Card match will advance to the Round One Best-of-3 series to face the conference No. 1 seed.
Eastern Conference Wild Card Match: No. 8 vs. No. 9
Western Conference Wild Card Match: No. 8 vs. No. 9
(nypost.com 12-18-22)
Emiliano Martínez was still in tears as he tried to answer questions, the moment overwhelming the Argentine goalkeeper more than anything could have during the game itself.
It was the first time all night he had looked anything other than calm as Martínez wrote himself into World Cup lore. In the classic World Cup final, Martinez carried Argentina through extra time and a penalty shootout to win the country’s first world championship in 36 years.
It was the second minute of stoppage time after 120 had already passed when a looping ball found Randal Kolo Muani in space atop the Argentinian box. This looked like the moment for France, which had already fought back from 2-0 and 3-2 deficits to tie the game at three. This would write an end to Argentina, a tragic finish to a World Cup that seemed predestined to finish in favor of La Albiceleste from the start.
And then there was Martínez, doing the splits and coming up with a desperation kick save, the ball flying off his left foot. Minutes later, with the game in penalties, there was no desperation — only stone cold calm. Martínez denied Kingsley Coman with a diving save to his left, then stared down Aurélien Tchouaméni until the French midfielder sent his attempt wide.
“Nothing to thank me for,” Martínez said through both an interpreter and his tears. “It was a game we had to suffer. … It’s our destiny to suffer.”
And it seemed to be his destiny to end that suffering.
“We were [up] 3-2, they get another penalty. They almost scored two goals then I did that kick, that save, and this is my dream,” Martínez said. “I’m speechless.”
The emotion, still, poured from him as he was asked about the penalty kicks.
“I was calm. I relied on my teammates,” he said. “I couldn’t [save] the first one, I leaned the wrong way.
“But then I did everything right.”
His teammates, too, came through with a perfect 4-for-4 in the shootout. Lionel Messi, Paulo Dybala, Leandro Paredes and Gonzalo Montiel helped put Argentina over the top in the shootout, But it is Martínez who made that glory possible when all looked lost.
“I want to dedicate [this] to my family, my kid,” Martínez said. “I came from humble beginnings, I left Argentina very young for England, and I just want to dedicate this to them.”
https://nypost.com/2022/12/18/emiliano-martinez-saves-argentina-in-clutch-for-world-cup-title/
(ksl.com 8-23-23)
Everyone knew the stakes of Wednesday's U.S. Open Cup semifinal in Houston: Win and you get to play Lionel Messi.
For Real Salt Lake, the reward was even bigger: Win and Messi comes to Sandy for a tournament final, with a trophy on the line.
RSL bounced back after it trailed 1-0 at halftime to keep the glimmer of hope alive with a goal from super-sub Anderson Julio in the 64th minute. The script, then, followed the Miami-Cincinnati semifinal earlier in the evening and went to 30 minutes of extra time with an even scoreline after 90 minutes.
RSL likely shouldn't have even made it that far, trailing Houston by a large margin in nearly every statistical category. The Dynamo owned almost 70% of possession in the game and outshot RSL 30-11 on the night, including a 10-2 lead in shots on goal.
Houston's tenacity and RSL's defensive woes shone through in extra time, and the Dynamo scored at the end of each 15-minute period to finish with a 3-1 win and a ticket to Miami for the Open Cup final.
"We knew it was gonna be a tough match," head coach Pablo Mastroeni said. "I'm really proud of the way the guys fought to get back in the game, but I think on the night we just weren't good enough with the ball. Credit to Houston, they're a very good team at home."
Brayan Vera exacerbated the situation with a straight red card in the 119th minute for striking a Houston player and retaliating against the teammates who came to the opponent's defense. Zac MacMath and Marcelo Silva had to restrain the first-year defender who was thirsty for more.
The two sides follow up Wednesday's 120-minute battle with another match Saturday in Sandy; RSL resumes MLS play at 7:30 p.m. MDT at America First Field.
"You can sit here and feel sorry for yourself, but we have a big game on the weekend and we have to quickly dust ourselves off and attack the right way," Mastroeni said. "So that'll be the focus for us."
RSL sits in third place in the Western Conference with 10 matches remaining in the regular season. So even though the team fell short of trophies in the Leagues Cup and Open Cup tournaments, Mastroeni believes there's still a lot to fight for in the regular season.
"We're in a good position in the league, but we have to have a better performance than we did tonight, I think, in particular with the ball," Mastroeni said. "I can't be more proud of the effort that the guys gave, but I just don't think we've executed well enough."
The loss came with subpar performances from the starting strikers up top — Damir Kreilach and Chicho Arango — and was also the team's first shot at replacing injured Pablo Ruiz in the midfield. Mastroeni said the team felt his "void" Wednesday and will need to "quickly figure out" how to fill it moving forward.
"Whether it's changing shape or changing the personnel," Mastroeni said. "But, obviously, it's hard to replace a player of Pablo's caliber."
https://www.ksl.com/article/50715934/rsl-falls-short-of-us-open-cup-final-loses-3-1-in-houston
I check out ksl.com daily for my local news, and for some reason they keep putting up RSL game results. So whether I want to or not I've seen RSL move up the in the standings of what is the MLS freak show. Good for them, 3rd in the West I see.
I still don't care.
However, I would like to see them take the US Open Cup, that in my mind is a proper soccer championship. So not all of my RSL fandom has died, just the portion that has anything to do with MLS. US Soccer I suppose deserves a little credit for keeping the Open Cup going.
August 23rd in Houston I see is their next game. Good lord, that won't be humid at all. God bless them, hopefully no one suffers a heat stroke.
Moving on to more important things, "los sanfermines" just ended in Pamplona. A little over a week of running with the bulls in the morning and then bullfights in the afternoon. Along with 24 hours of drinking and other debauchery.
Bull runs available on YouTube and the bull fights available on my Mundotoro TV app. It has been wonderful, everything so easily available to watch.
This year was kind of special, although I think I am the only one in the State of Utah that knew about it. This year was the 10 year anniversary of the goring of local boy Patrick Eccles. It was all over the news 10 years ago. He survived thank goodness, he very easily could have died. The goring was that bad. He did lose his spleen though, poor guy. And he took a lot of guff for running with a cell phone in his hand, a big no-no.
I follow him on Facebook and Instagram and I was waiting to see if he was going to put anything up on the anniversary but he did not. I was kind of hoping he would put of the video that he shot on his cell phone.
I did a little follow up post on my Plaza de Toros blog after I found a couple of photos that had previously gone unnoticed. Here's a link;
http://blogplazadetoros.blogspot.com/2023/07/10-years-ago-today.html
And here is one of the original photos, in case you missed it 10 years ago.
Ernest Hemingway once said, "Nobody ever lives their life all the way up except bullfighters."
Bull runners probably feel like they live quite a bit of it up too.
Seriously, every time I have ever watched Messi play I end up screaming at the TV, "GOAT my ass! This guy sucks!"
Messi and MLS are made for each other perhaps, a crap player in a crap league, both pretending to be more important than they actually are.
--------------
Lionel Messi says he’s joining Major League Soccer’s Inter Miami after exit from Paris Saint-Germain
(cnbc.com 6-7-23)
Lionel Messi has pulled off his latest stunning feat: He is headed to Major League Soccer, and joining Inter Miami.
After months — years, even — of speculation, Messi finally revealed his decision to join a Miami franchise that has been led by another global soccer icon, David Beckham, since its inception but has yet to make any real splashes on the field.
That likely will soon change. One of Inter Miami’s owners, Jorge Mas, tweeted out a photo of a darkly silhouetted Messi jersey shortly before the Argentinian great revealed his decision in interviews with Spanish news outlets Mundo Deportivo and Sport.
It was widely believed that Messi eventually would choose to play for Al-Hilal in Saudi Arabia, following longtime rival Cristiano Ronaldo to a nation where some clubs now are funded by the state’s sovereign wealth fund. Going back to Barcelona, a storied franchise where he spent most of his career, was another possibility.
But in the end, he made the call that surprised many. Messi is joining MLS. He said in the interviews Wednesday that some final details still need to be worked out, but that he has made the call to “continue my path” in Miami.
“After winning the World Cup and not being able to return to Barcelona, it was my turn to go to the league of the United States to live football in another way,” Messi said.
He didn’t take the money. He didn’t choose the memories. He picked Miami instead. Messi’s next matches are likely to be exhibitions with Argentina against Australia on June 15 at Beijing and at Indonesia in Jakarta four days later — and then his Inter Miami debut figures to be sometime in July.
The seven-time Ballon d’Or winner — the trophy given annually to the best player in the world — makes his move after two years with Paris Saint-Germain. At 35, Messi has nothing left to prove in the game and filled the only significant unchecked box on his resume back in December by leading Argentina to the World Cup title.
Messi has more than 800 goals in his career for club and country, making him one of the greatest scorers in the sport’s history. In more than 17 years of representing Argentina on the international stage, he has scored 102 goals against 38 different national team opponents — 16 of those goals coming on U.S. soil. He scored twice in last year’s World Cup final against France, a match that officially ended 3-3 with Argentina prevailing in penalty kicks.
He has been to the absolute mountaintop of the game.
And now he comes to MLS, and a team that is struggling — last place in the Eastern Conference, just a few days removed from the firing of coach Phil Neville (who was hand-picked by Beckham two years ago).
Messi’s decision to play in the U.S. might be the biggest boost ever for American soccer on the pro stage. Some of the game’s biggest names — Pele, Thierry Henry, Beckham himself — have come to the U.S. toward the end of their careers, but landing a player still no worse than near the pinnacle of his game and just a few months removed from hoisting a World Cup is simply huge.
It took months of negotiations with MLS, the Inter Miami ownership, Adidas and even Apple getting involved in a creative pitch to bring Messi to Miami’s pitch. Apple — which is a broadcast partner of MLS — announced Tuesday that it will show a still-untitled four-part documentary series “featuring exclusive behind-the-scenes access to global superstar Lionel Messi. ... In his own words, Messi tells the definitive story of his incredible career with the Argentina national football team, providing an intimate and unprecedented look at his quest for a legacy-defining World Cup victory.”
And now, his story will have a Miami chapter.
Inter Miami needed six years from inception to playing its first match, and its first four seasons have been less than stellar.
Messi is joining a team that sits last in the Eastern Conference and just fired its coach. It has made the playoffs in two of its first three seasons but has yet to finish a season with a winning record or even a positive goal differential.
Still, there have been hints for months that Miami remained very much in the Messi sweepstakes. Messi met with Inter Miami co-owner Beckham this spring, and that was shared publicly almost to ensure that everyone knew the sides were still talking. Messi and his family also own several pieces of luxury real estate in South Florida, and — almost as if to suggest something big was coming — the MLS club told fans the only way they could get tickets for the second half of this season was to purchase a season-ticket package.
He’s an enormous draw everywhere on the globe, including Miami. Two days after Argentina won the World Cup, Miami Heat guard Kyle Lowry sat on his team’s bench for a game unable to play because of injury. He wore a Messi jersey that night.
Inter Miami still plays home matches in a temporary home in Fort Lauderdale, about 45 minutes north of the site in Miami where the team wants to build a permanent complex.
And even in an area where the population has a serious Latin flavor, and where more people might actually call the sport futbol than soccer, Inter Miami has struggled to generate the same attention as do the area’s primary pro teams — basketball’s Heat, baseball’s Miami Marlins, football’s Miami Dolphins and hockey’s Florida Panthers.
Messi could change that in an instant. In a flash, he becomes the biggest name in MLS and makes everything Miami does newsworthy.
His decision ends what has been a wild saga. Barcelona made Messi a superstar, but the financial issues that forced the team to letting him go two years ago still remain an issue.
"I heard that they’d have to sell players or lower players’ salaries and the truth is, I didn’t want to go through that,” Messi said Wednesday.
There are no financial issues with Saudi Arabia, and speculation that he would end up there intensified when Messi made an unauthorized trip to the kingdom. PSG suspended him and some fans turned on him, serenading him with jeers toward the end of his season with the French club.
Everyone knew he wouldn’t be back with PSG. Few likely thought he was heading to Miami. But here he is, a move to Miami by a superstar that might even be more shocking than LeBron James arriving to join the Heat 13 years ago.
I'm shocked.
Don't worry, there is plenty of time for them to choke. What do you want to bet?
---------------
RSL eliminates Colorado in Open Cup, will host Galaxy in quarterfinals
(ksl.com 5-24-23)
They say it's hard to beat the same team twice in a row, but Real Salt Lake defeated the Colorado Rapids on the road for the second time in five days to advance to the quarterfinals of the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup on Wednesday.
"Every game has got its own flavor, every game is its own event; no two games will ever look alike," head coach Pablo Mastroeni said. "Even if you play these guys in three more days, the score won't be the same and the game won't be the same. But what I'm proud of is the way the guys managed this game and held on to the lead."
The victory came by a one-goal margin, once again, following a 3-2 win last weekend. Jefferson Savarino was the difference on Wednesday after joining the team for the first time this tournament, scoring the game-winner in the 30th minute for a 1-0 result.
Anderson Julio was pressuring the Colorado defense high up the field, as head coach Pablo Mastroeni preaches, and it paid off. The Ecuadorian forward intercepted a pass and laid it off to Savarino on a breakaway.
With a couple of defenders in front of him, Savarino may have waited for his teammates to join him in the attack, but not this time. He saw an opening, trusted his foot, and took the shot. He sent a bending banger from outside the box into the far post for the first and only goal of the game.
It was Savarino's first goal for RSL since April 22 and gave the team another golazo for its Open Cup highlight reel after Andres Gomez dropped one from distance in Portland.
Mastroeni rotated in plenty of subs in the second half to keep the legs fresh, and the strategy paid off to hold Colorado scoreless at home. RSL's teenager in goal, Gavin Beavers, came up big once again with three crucial saves to maintain the clean sheet on the road.
"Without the boys in front of me we don't get that shutout," Beavers said. "I feel like the save that I had in the first half off the crossbar propelled us forward. You can't get a shutout just by yourself. You've got to have 10 other guys in front of you, and I feel like we did a great job tonight."
RSL will host the LA Galaxy at America First Field in the quarterfinals of the Open Cup on June 7 at 8. p.m. MDT. The team has three MLS matches before then, however, traveling to Minnesota on Saturday and then facing the Galaxy at home on May 31, followed by Austin FC on the road on June 3.
As I mentioned earlier this week there is big bullfight news that will permanently put the sport of soccer in the graveyard for me. (Well, I'll still be around to poke fun at MLS and RSL whenever needed, how can I not?)
But, not since the 90's and the days of the old C-band satellite dishes has a bullfight fan in the United States been able to watch bullfights on live tv. And even with those C-band satellite dishes you had to have a Latin American package which included TVE (TV Español).
Sadly when DishNetwork and DirectTV came around C-band satellite dishes went away. I know, I had one and getting them repaired became a nightmare (which I had to do a lot because of the high wind in Utah would damage the arm that pushed the satellite dish back and forth to pick up the channels) and the packages with the different channel choices slowly went away too.
Then in the early 2000's I found a website where you could order DVD copies of many of the big bullfights from Spain and Mexico. I bought several DVD's but with time even that got a little difficult as the guy who ran the website, I suppose from his basement, slowly stopped updating it and it eventually went away.
So, for the last decade or so I've had to be content with watching whatever bullfight videos would show up on YouTube or Facebook, or the basic video highlights on Madrid's bullring website.
But not anymore damn it !
Technology has finally entered the world of the bulls with broadcasts being available worldwide via the internet and the new app Mundotoro TV.
For just about $11.00 a month someone will have access to all the major bullfights in Spain. Madrid, Sevilla, Valencia, as well as much much more. I would imagine they will also make the bullfights from the south of France available too such as Nimes and Arles.
And there are no contracts, you can cancel at any time. But why would you?!
Amazing, absolutely amazing. Some good news finally, surely bullfight fans from around the world deserve some.
This Sunday is the big kickoff with one of the biggest events of the year, the Easter Sunday bullfight from La Maestranza de Sevilla, "the cathedral of bullfighting".
Then the following week Sevilla's Spring Fair will start with bullfights everyday for two weeks, then shortly after that Madrid's San Isidro fair will kick off with bullfights almost everyday for over a month. All of which I will be able to watch from the comfort of my own home thousands of miles away.
I'm so damn happy I might just start running naked in the streets.
Who does RSL play this week?
Oh, who the hell cares, I have bullfights to watch!
So it appears RSL is in a heated race for last place in the West along with the Galaxy, Sporting KC, and Colorado after another loss yesterday. *snicker* *giggle* *guffaw*
(RSL now has one win for the season and now a four game losing streak going strong.)
Now if MLS had switched to a promotion/relegation model several years ago like they should have the season would still be interesting as we would cheer them on to get out of the relegation zone. But, as of now, the season is a wash.
I guess it doesn't really matter though, I hadn't planned on caring anyway as this year we have huge bullfight news, the biggest bullfight news (at least for bullfight afficionados in the United States are concerned) in the last 25 years.
Stay tuned for another post as the week goes on and I will explain.
What an ugly logo, it seriously looks like some kid drew it. The original was better.
What does it matter though I guess, I'm never going to go to any of their games.
(rsl.com 2-16-23)
A kit for all of Utah -- This mantra of the Real Salt Lake creative team throughout the entire conceptualization of the 2023 Beehive State kit. From every thread to every stitch, the Real Salt Lake away kit seeks to piece together the Club and the state’s history in one unifying jersey.
The journey of the Beehive State Kit begins at Capitol Hill and flows out throughout to the rest of the state -- Actually quite literally.
“I was out walking the dogs around at the Capitol and noticed all these statues with the beehive,” VP of Marketing and Game Production Tyler Gibbons, said. “The design process was taking place when the flag was being redone, which now features the beehive, and Utah is nicknamed “the Beehive State,” so we decided to lean into it.”
Besides the gold shade, the details in the kit include a hexagonal pattern that represents a beehive, an updated badge, and Claret-and-Cobalt trim.
Former RSL Art Director, David Dryden who was heavily involved in the design of the kit, also referenced what he heard from the fans as inspiration.
“One of the big pieces of feedback that I've seen from fans is that they were sick of white secondary jerseys,” said Dryden. “I really took that to heart because as a fan myself, I was also sick of white jerseys.”
For Dryden, gold seemed like a perfect fit. Not only because of the reference to the beehive, but the general vibe of the state.
“When you think of Utah, it's not a dark place. It's a bright, beautiful, sunny state,” Dryden said.
Gibbons, who coined the kit’s tagline, “Be Bold. Go Gold.” was in full agreement.
“On the secondary side, we're always gonna take some risks,” Gibbons said. “We're always gonna have some fun because it's not our primary.”
Gibbons hails his relationship with the Club’s Adidas representative, former Utah Royals player Mandy Laddish, for helping the kit supplier and the Club be on the same page.
“She understands our market and I understand what our fans want,” Gibbons said. “Just like last year’s Believe kit, this is for Utah, for the people that live and represent this state and call it home. The Beehive State is industrious, hardworking, and together which is what I think this Club stands for.”
Besides just taking inspiration from the state, the design team also wanted to draw in concepts from the Club’s history, specifically the 2010-11 “Victory Gold” third kit.
“When you walk down the hall at America First Field, you see all our past jerseys, so we also wanted to draw on our heritage,” said Gibbons.
Unlike the “Victory Gold” kit, the new Beehive State kit doesn’t use the Club’s primary colors. The jersey incorporates a new shade of blue, and instead of a banana yellow, gold. The Club will also be able to choose between using blue or gold shorts to pair with the new kit.
Working with Laddish, the kit design process begins with an eight page document that the Club creates that spells out the vision, idea, market for the Adidas team in Germany. Adidas responds to the document with a few design ideas. The design team then discussed with the team in Germany the final details of the kit. Then once everyone is on board, the final version of the kit is created.
Once those inside the Club saw the new Beehive State kit for the first time, the reception was overwhelmingly positive.
“I absolutely fell in love with it,” said Sr. Digital Director, Emma Kramer. “I thought it would easily become one of the best kits in MLS.”
Now that the kit was finalized, it was time to begin planning its release.
The groundwork for the kit launch began last November. The logistics behind a kit launch are many. The digital team had to plan media day with the new kit, plan the location and storyline behind the launch video and photoshoot, coordinate all the different ideas between the creatives and then align how those ideas would tell a story through social media, email, site, and graphics.
"I think there are a lot of brainstorming processes you've gotta go through and make sure everyone who's being a part of the launch understands the vision which is that this is Utah's kit,” said Kramer.
“It's a kit for this state and for the people who live here. So we wanted to tie in downtown Salt Lake, the stadium, the mountains that are so prevalent here and make sure we can tell the story from top to bottom with our video, having all of those different elements play out.”
Kramer also wanted to make sure the right person did the voice over for the video was someone who the fans could connect back to Utah. Who better than former RSL player and commentator, Brian Dunseth.
Then for the video itself, the digital team wanted to make sure there were elements tied to both the story of the Beehive State kit and the story of those who live here. Locations include the likes of the beehives at the state capitol, the Beehive Pub, Nick Rimando’s Beer Bar, the Tracks, Vivint Arena and more.
Over months of planning, and many long nights, the Beehive Kit was finally released on February 16.
“It's probably one of the most stressful things that I do throughout the entire year, up there with schedule release and playoffs, but it's so fun to see it all come to life and see,” Kramer said.
“We have such a creative staff, from the video, photo and graphics that were established and then how we launched it on the website, email and social. All of these people have put so much hard work to make it the best launch. I'm really proud to witness it all come to life.”
https://www.rsl.com/news/story-of-the-2023-beehive-state-kit
(from nba.com)
Finally, the clock hit Dame Time for Damian Lillard on Saturday in the Starry 3-Point Contest.
In his third career appearance in the event, Lillard bested 2020 3-point Contest winner Buddy Hield and third-year guard Tyrese Haliburton in the final round of the competition, and it was his accuracy on the “Starry” shots in the end that made all the difference.
Lillard knocked down two shots from “Starry” range, and those buckets counted for three points apiece in the final round as he edged out Hield 26-25. Lillard’s last attempt from the corner with a two-point money ball gave him the victory.
Haliburton looked like the early favorite, though.
Haliburton blew out the field initially, tying a 3-point contest record in the first round with 31 points, as he hit four of five shots in an all-money-ball final rack to close out the round. Wearing his college jersey from nearby Weber State, Lillard finished the first round in second place with 26 points followed by Hield, who scored 23 points to start the competition.
We all understand the traditional 3-point contest, which consists of five racks containing five balls apiece spaced around the 3-point line. The usual rack contains four regular orange balls worth one point apiece, and one multi-colored money ball, which is worth two points.
The all-money-ball rack conjured another level intrigue in 2018, when it was first introduced. That rack could be placed anywhere, and consists of five money balls, each good for two points.
The league ratcheted up the 2023 competition even more for the long-range specialists with the addition of the two “Starry” balls, which are placed deep behind the 3-point line on each side of the middle rack past the top of the key.
Those balls are placed roughly 30 feet away from the basket and worth three points apiece.
Lillard used them to his advantage in walking away with his first championship in the Starry 3-Point Contest.
Lillard is currently 27-for-87 this season (31%) on shots between 30-34 feet.
John Stockton and Karl Malone!
