Stephen A. Smith beats Kenny Smith in free-throw battle that came with awkward end

Which one of these Smiths played 10 seasons in the NBA, again?In an outdoor free-throw shooting contest between media personalities, ESPN’s hot-takes specialist Stephen A.Smith routed Kenny Smith, the former NBA point guard who is part of TNT’s “Inside the NBA” cast.Stephen A.

made 3 of 5 attempts while Kenny made only 1 of 5 (actually 1 of 6) as the trash-talking mounted and confusion took over to make for an awkward ending.With Shaquille O’Neal on the microphone, Stephen A.actually clinched victory after four rounds, but Kenny wanted his fifth shot.

He made it, claimed “Now I’m warm” and then took a sixth shot that didn’t count — and was a miss, anyway.Stephen A.was ready to keep shooting if a win wasn’t declared.

Hey, shooters shoot.The contest was part of the NBA Cup semifinal pregame show.The mixing of network personalities was interesting with “Inside the NBA” moving from TNT to ESPN next season as part of a media rights package.TNT put Kenny Smith up against Stephen A.’s challenge because he was an 82.9 percent free-throw shooter from 1987-97.

But, judging by his form, he has lost his touch over the last 27 years.Stephen A., who briefly played college basketball at Winston-Salem University before a knee injury, probably would’ve won in a bigger rout against Charles Barkley (73.percent in his career) or Shaq (52.7 percent in his career).Opposing teams invented the “Hack-a-Shaq” strategy to get the ball back late in games because of confidence O’Neal would miss.

O’Neal was hoping the media casts at the networks would play a 4-on-4 game — more the style of a dominant 7-footer — but that was an injury risk waiting to happen.If Stephen A.didn’t have enough bragging rights at that point, he and O’Neal then competed in an impromptu air-ball-filled 3-point contest.

First one wins.Sure enough, Shaq came up short four times before both personalities just started firing away out of embarrassment.Stephen A.

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