All-Star Warriors leave it up to Lee to shine

The Warriors don’t have much to brag about after the first two days of the 2013 NBA All-Star Weekend.

Golden State sophmore Klay Thompson and rookie Harrison Barnes had a chance to shine in the BBVA Rising Stars Challenge Friday evening, but missed the mark.

Stephen Curry also had a chance in the All-Star spotlight during Saturday’s NBA Three-Point Shootout, but was also shutout by the competition.

The Rising Stars Challenge is an exhibition game where rookies and second year players, drafted by mock-general managers Shaquille O’neal and Charles Barkley, battle it out on Team Shaq and Team Chuck.  Thompson and Barnes were both on Team Shaq, the favorite to win the game, touting talent such as Portland Trailblazer Damian Lillard and the 2012 NBA Rookie of the Year Kyrie Irving.

But Team Chuck prevailed as the underdog, winning 163-135, and of the almost 300 points in the game, Thompson scored 11 and Barnes added 12 points.

Barnes tweeted after the game, showing his appreciation for being a part of All-Star Weekend and looking forward to the future:

In the 3-Point Shootout each player has five stations to shoot five balls from, the first four worth one point each and the fifth “money ball” worth two points.  A video posted earlier in the week showed Curry at the Warriors practice facility getting ready for the shootout scoring 27, which would beat the current record of 25 set by Jason Kapono in 2008.

Saturday’s 3-Point Shootout was what many were hoping would be a super-star moment for Curry who was snubbed of a All-Star team selection.  But Curry was quickly knocked out of the first round of the shootout, scoring only 17.

At the start of All-Star Weekend Curry told WarriorsTV that he’s still thinking about what comes after the All-Star break but that he’s proud to have four Warriors representing Golden State in Houston:

“To have a lot of Warriors on different stages here in Houston it’s a big deal, and obviously when we get back after the break we have a play off push to finish and hopefully end of story.”

The pressure is now on David Lee to take the spotlight for Golden State in the the main event, the 2013 NBA All-Star Game,  Sunday at 5 pm on TNT.