Can an Average Guy Beat NBA Star Joe Harris in a 3-Point Contest? | Above Average Joe | GQ Sports

I'm Claire's captain in a couple of days. I have to face the reigning NBA three-

point

champion, Joe Harris, and now I have 100 shots, I practice 99 shots to practice which was incredible. You'd better use that tape if someone asks you to. one today is ok we all agree they can make it look good in the post ok every year an all-

star

weekend NBA they have a lot of competitions but one of those competitions is the NBA 3

point

contest

the Top 10 Shooters in NBA Shooting 25 Balls 16 of which are regular balls worth 1 point 9 Balls that are money balls that count for two points for a total of 34 points we are on the lower east side the mani community center candor let's go to practice my 3 point jump shot, i played power forward in high school which is not a position that requires a lot of 3 point shots and i haven't shot a basketball in about three months but this is The first one I've felt Relatively confident and hearing myself say that out loud, I feel like I have it all to myself to say that last year Joe Harris scored 26 of 30 points, so that's who I'm going up against on Thursday.

I don't think I'm going to do that, but can't I do better than the worst NBA performance of all time? Detlef Schrempf in 1988, I think he scored five points and Michael Jordan MJ scored five points in 1990, so if I hit six shots that's a given, even though I'm MJ today. I'm here to practice a bit, so we have a coach with me today. 18 Brower, he'll give me some tips when working on my technique, he'll give me some tips for strategy and he's got some raw clay to work with, let's practice the clay. See you around, so what are the fundamentals for a good three-point chat arc?

It's very important. The rotation of the ball is really important. I mean limit the amount of energy expended you have on a shot. set it up on the shelf between throw number five and throw number one on the next shelf; in reality, there is much more than you think. It's not just muscle memory, so it's not a bad cue. then in the center of mani counter it's a high school court so these are high school regulations so the high school line 19 foot nine inches the line of the NBA is 23 foot 9 where you're shooting from here every time that's where I shoot from the right you shot a little bit closer but the hard part is you get a lot of elevation on your shot it just limits the amount of time you have to get to the ground pick up another basketball off the ground so that time reaches the bottom rack you might be in trouble so what's the key to fixing that shooting the ball further on the way up than on top?

In fact, at these four extra feet, okay, it feels a lot further away. This is basically half court. This is a half court shooting competition. ok let's do this 98 shots to go as you get up off the ground

star

t moving your wrist and getting the ball out of your hands yeah yeah this goes really well if you can move your wrist a bit more that will be tricky but trying to to think you almost have to cook it oh gosh that's better gosh cuts are over if you can get the ball in your hands with your fingertips on the seams you'll have a better chance of getting a perfect spin on the ball over and over again. that serves to slow the ball down and get a little bit more trajectory through the air the second you get to this ball rack eyes on those seams go right there they go through so i see the first grip was not correct the second you aim. like this and then you left like this yeah i know sorry it might sound weird try to shoot like you're trying to go backwards try to miss four long shots ok so you have a better chance of getting it above maybe we should take out a rat so we can see the pros and cons pros you came here today with a great attitude cons everything else you have to get the spin on the ball you want to think a little higher in the air and a little more rotation where you can get two rotations per second in the air wow that little bit can give you that extra push ok let's do five more. that push little ones with no points that realistically you have 11 seconds to go from the first ball out of your hands to the last basketball on the rack Wow no oh my gosh there you go you might not have time not even to see the ball go in on your first shot you knew was wrong the moment you released it and your confidence plummeted yeah you just have to shoot and forget every shot that slips through your hands.

I'm going to say something crazy, but I think you actually make a four. round, if you ready i'm here i'm here for you, clay how many think i'm a three how many really think a two ready, early release yes three you get points inside that three yes no three . you weren't fatigued till four five yeah five was four shots from the side of the backboard so you're in trouble you think you got 20 shots the middle shelf is your money you got five you can get ten points right there , everything you need. it's a couple you've got to have six money seven balls and those first three racks somewhere you know we mostly talk about physical things like psychological things like how to get to that flow state or get into rhythm or not psych yourself you can't let it go miss shot determine your next shot focus on what you did right when in between jill is going to kill you but thanks for putting it soft if your target is five or six you get six or jordan status so the next step unfortunately i think is another round, but it will be better if I have little competition, so we brought Monmouth native Ray Sal here. he tryna focus on your breath i guess don't mess with your head ok just turn it off and move on just be confident in yourself great let's make a prediction what do you got? by the time you get the first rack then i feel like you'll get your momentum yeah yeah get the first pair out on the way it's my time to grow what i want cause i think it would be really good alright let's go get it there it is oh ok there we go we got three ok i think you started off good yeah and then you felt good get a big one.

I was lucky I didn't look at it too long. yeah once you see missing too much then you start talking to lose confidence especially especially in

contest

yeah so the good thing about your round is you start making shots at the end which is like my confidence and strength they only get shot once. once you hear the net after i make one if i'm alright maybe i'm up to something he just kissed you and then they see you know you hit a couple alright and then i go out of the blue so what 11 yeah probably so yeah i mean just compare it to you just pee believing you know the next one goes ah don't focus on the last one you know you're a good shot and you practice and work the back technique yeah just trust big aspects there if you know your tellers your prediction so I faced you, okay, there you have it. what happens is that the adrenaline increases.

I might get lucky, maybe catch fire and hit six or seven, but I think that's probably the upper echelon of what I'm going to do. I don't think it's going to get to ten, right? I think I'm going to

beat

Jeff five shots to go wish me luck. I started this day much more confident than I am right now. Today is the day that I am in the NBA Players Association when I faced Joe Harris. NBA 3-point competition I feel more confident now than when I left the gym on Tuesday I may have snuck in a few extra practice shots I feel a little better but not much better mentally I've been trying to go through that ATN checklist it hit me so I just focused on getting my hands on the seams and shooting it very quickly remembering not to watch the follow through and try to shoot it to the backboard since it was the front of the rim because it just short everything out on the other one.

The big tip I got from Ray was just breathe just try to focus on breathing. I'll try to keep a cool head, but if I'm realistic I think it's probably going to be pretty intense. I think it could go to zero today. It's definitely over. I may have to leave GQ. Potentially I will leave New York and never play basketball again. Just don't get zero, that's the goal. I'm just going to focus on slowing down and I'm going to put my money ball on top. It's okay and maybe. that's a terrible idea but i feel good about that strategy see if it works well feel good oh gosh hey man what's going on nice to meet you dude joe sol you actually won the whole thing yeah I did 26.

Okay, no. 26 technically, but he had 26 points and that included the money balls. The shot you shoot here is not the shot you have in the game, is it? Yeah you have to practice it like how many shots are usually good enough to practice. I practiced the day before I did it, it's a little bit different, like reaching for the ball, taking your eyes off the hoop and having a kind of constant and we were kind of where I found myself getting a little messed up trying to get the rhythm of that way, okay, I mean shooting is about trying to find your rhythm and you know you have a minute to do it, so you have to have some kind of rhythm when you're going through, you can't just take your time, you know, I I noticed you picked up the second ball on the rack I rehearsed it was the closest initially when I first reached and just stuck with it okay I was going when I practiced I didn't actually take the second one uh-huh and I got caught up in the competition.

I feel like I accidentally got the second one and just went from there and did it on every eruption. How do you decide where to put your money? having my rack of money balls at the end just because corner threes traditionally have the easiest par threes because they're closer I want to yeah they're a little bit closer and it's like one of those shots I find myself practicing more often than any other 3-point shot. I'm not even shooting a fifth basket and Joe puts the money balls out of him. I think about the fifth basket. Alright. get some water at that point I like to do the last corner point just because I assumed I would probably or hopefully have at least some rhythm by the time I got to the end compared to when I first started and you get along you don't hit me all It must be nice how's that feeling yeah I've got three drinks left and I'd love to say you give me some pointers yeah we can do it okay as long as I get in that's a good shot now look good theory okay that's all hey what should what should change nothing nothing as long as i go man two in a row great coach up you should go home this is great yeah: that's what you think i am in your head kinda alright i won't worry alright this is a session alright you go first good how you feeling we all want to warm up or not let's not do it love that three two one ready go 1 2 damn oh boy awesome not bad ok um oh this is going to be like my you know a big bullying, GQ, you know, GQ Jersey, oh, we got a prediction from you, what do you think I'm going to do here?

Well I saw you hit three in a row so I guess you'll have 15-20 Wow can you give me a try with the Nets if I argue it fits? Oh yeah we'll call Shawn Juarez right after the perfect season 3 2 1 ready to go 20 vault thirty okay ah Oh I don't think I'll prove it it's all in the last round wash that cap it's gone dammit , I think there is room for improvement, you also look tense, you are holding your breath. when i would yeah yeah you're tight relax wait a bit i'll run it again sometime exactly yeah maybe after chicago so now if you win it's like we won together here it is Where exactly did it start?

I'll give you the trophies, really amazing, cut it in half and you can have half and I'll have half and then we'll be in the same city, we can hang out, put our hands together, yeah I love it perfect. I take advantage of the fact that I missed the zero shot, so that's good, two regular shots, one Moneyball after the buzzer, the handicap will count as four points. I think four was maybe a little lower than Joe is above

average

. I would get but that's really hard and I'm surprised at how hard it is I mean it seems like it's super easy it's not like that in all the challenges we've done so far way above

average

Joe I think this is the one that most surprised me with how difficult it is.

I think training with a TN and Ray really helped me and I think his advice was the only reason I was able to hit three of those basketballs when I said the beginning was like me. I'm not going to worry about my breathing. There are only a finite number of things I can do on my checklist. Breathe and be zen about it. It won't be one of them. I think that was a big problem for me. I was so tense that I couldn't even focus on filming the good news. I can keep doing the show because I didn't get zero but I think I could havedone.done better so im a little disappointed but to all you youtube haters i cant shoot a basket dammit i really wanted me to come in for all you youtube haters i really cant shoot a basketball First Take GQ Flash, are you done?