the Miami Sports Dude

WADE WINS SKILLS CHALLENGE FOR SECOND YEAR IN A ROW

Dwyane Wade won the 2007 Skills Challenge title at All-Star Saturday for the second year in a row. He’s the only player to win it in back-to-back years.

Wade beat Kobe Bryant, LeBron James and Chris Paul. The Skills Challenge is an obstacle course which features four agility drills – dribbling around hurdles, passing accuracy tests where the player has to “pass” the ball by throwing it into a hoop as well as bounce-passing the ball through another hoop, then complete a 3-point shot, and finishing with a lay-up or dunk – all while being timed.

After LeBron and Paul failed to reach the final round, it came down to Kobe and Wade, all while Shaquille O’Neal watched from the sidelines in a Dick Tracy costume.

In the final round, Wade ran the course first, scoring a flawless 26.4 seconds. He ran the course with quickness, made all his passes, hit the three point shot and banked in a lay-up to complete his course. After Bryant had his own faultless first round, everyone expected him to give Wade a run for his money in the deciding round.

But Bryant fell way behind when he failed several times to put the ball through the hoop in the passing drill.

The passing drill.

Kobe Bryant lost the Skills Challenge because he failed the passing drill. Is anyone else as shocked as I am?

Dwyane Wade proves once again, whether it’s in the NBA Finals, the NBA regular season or in an exhibition like this, that he is the best player in the world.