The NBA introduced the HORSE Challenge to the world that was in dire need of some sports entertainment last night. They were able to combine talents from some fan favorite NBA/WNBA players as well as promoting safety through social distancing. Players were given the option of filming themselves from home or any other court they can find available to use. To a surprise, the results were anything but predictable, but the way these games were filmed could be viewed as questionable.
In the first round we saw retired NBA star Chauncey Billups take on Trae Young from the Atlanta Hawks. Billups came back from being down three letters (H-O-R) to defeat Young. Next we saw Mike Conley of the Utah Jazz absolutely destroy WNBA Legend Tamika Catchings 5 letters to 1. Next up, was Zach LaVine from the Chicago Bulls taking on Paul Pierce. LaVine ousted Pierce to move on to the next round. And in a upset, Allie Quigley from the WNBA’s Chicago Sky took down Oklahoma City Thunder superstar Chris Paul. Quigley posted to message to fans on her Twitter shortly after Paul’s defeat:
So much love tonight!!! Thanks everyone who watched. Love the support!! Special thanks to my camera woman/wife for chasing me around to get allllll the angles lol😘😘😘😘😘😘 @Sloot22
— Alexandria Quigley (@alliequigley) April 13, 2020
The next round of games which will be the semi-finals are to be aired on Thursday, April 16th 6 p.m. PT on ESPN and the ESPN App. The semifinal match-ups are set:
Chauncey Billups vs. Mike Conley
Zach LaVine vs. Allie Quigley
Did anyone catch the Pierce/LaVine match-up? I wonder when was the last time Paul Pierce picked up a basketball. It was very painful to watch.
🏀 NBA HORSE Challenge 🏀
👀 @ZachLaVine defeats @paulpierce34 in Round 1 of the NBA Horse Challenge presented by State Farm on ESPN! pic.twitter.com/OiTxcym9mH
— NBA (@NBA) April 13, 2020
The idea of this challenge by the NBA was great. But, it could have been done maybe a bit differently. First off, who’s idea was it to to get these players to use their own devices to film live via Zoom or FaceTime? Video quality was pretty bad. Hopefully for the second round the NBA can make some adjustments
