Sophia Michaels
The NBA’s HORSE Challenge began on Sunday night with a surprising upset as Chauncey Billups took down Trae Young despite Young jumping out to an early 3-0 letter lead.
The second match proved to be the biggest situational mismatch, as Tamika Catchings faced off against Mike Conley Jr., who is the lone member of the competition with an indoor home gym. The climate controlled gym proved to be extremely useful for Conley, who only picked up one letter. However, while being indoors provides a prohibitive advantage, Conley also broke out some creative shots and despite being a lefty, he showed he’s more than capable with his off-hand, which makes him a HORSE god, as he can call “off-hand” shots from just about anywhere and make them.
Both Catchings and Conley were more creative than Billups or Young, with Catchings making her first basket on a 360 layup, but ultimately, Conley’s off-hand shots and lack of wind proved to be too much.
The game-winner, once again, took advantage of his ambidexterity as he made a preposterous layup from behind the backboard with his right hand.
I don’t care about indoor or outdoor, that’s a ridiculous shot. Given what we’ve seen thus far, Conley’s abilities with the off-hand, plus the indoor gym, plus just generally being more creative than most anyone we’ve seen has to make him the favorite going forward.
Written by: Uproxx
