The NBA All-Star H–O–R–S–E Competition (also called the NBA All–Star G–E–I–C–O Competition because of its sponsor, Geico Insurance) was a

National Basketball Association The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada). The NBA is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United States and Ca ...

(NBA) contest which began at the

2009 2009 was designated as the International Year of Astronomy by the United Nations to coincide with the 400th anniversary of Galileo Galilei's first known astronomical studies with a telescope and the publication of Astronomia Nova by Joha ...

NBA All–Star Weekend in

Phoenix, Arizona Phoenix ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of cities and towns in Arizona#List of cities and towns, most populous city of the U.S. state of Arizona. With over 1.6 million residents at the 2020 census, it is the ...

, and only lasted for two years. It was canceled from the All-Star festivities prior to the

2011 The year marked the start of a Arab Spring, series of protests and revolutions throughout the Arab world advocating for democracy, reform, and economic recovery, later leading to the depositions of world leaders in Tunisia, Egypt, and Yemen ...

weekend. The contest had been held on the Saturday night prior to the All-Star Game.

History

The NBA had held H–O–R–S–E competitions during the . Throughout that season,

CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS (an abbreviation of its original name, Columbia Broadcasting System), is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainme ...

broadcast NBA games during the regular season and the playoffs. The host was Don Criqui and the NBA official was retired referee

Mendy Rudolph Marvin "Mendy" Rudolph (March 8, 1926July 4, 1979) was an American professional basketball Official (basketball), referee in the National Basketball Association (NBA) for 22 years, from 1952-53 NBA season, 1953 to 1974-75 NBA season, 1975. One o ...

. There were a total of 32 players and the finals had a match up of

Pete Maravich Peter Press Maravich ( ; June 22, 1947 – January 5, 1988), known by his nickname Pistol Pete, was an American professional basketball player. He starred in college at Louisiana State University's Tigers basketball team; his father, Press Mar ...

verse Paul Westphal. Maravich was injured and replaced by

Rick Barry Richard Francis Dennis Barry III (born March 28, 1944) is an American former professional basketball player who starred at the NCAA, American Basketball Association (ABA) and National Basketball Association (NBA) levels. Barry ranks among the m ...

who lost to Westphal. During halftime of those games, they showed a pre-taped H–O–R–S–E tournament pitting players from the NBA against each other. It featured, among others,

Bob McAdoo Robert Allen McAdoo Jr. ( ; born September 25, 1951) is an American former professional basketball player and coach. He played 14 seasons in the National Basketball Association (NBA), where he was a five-time NBA All-Star and named the NBA Mos ...

, Kevin Grevey, and George Gervin. There was also a Battle of the Sexes match where Karen Logan, a female, beat

Jerry West Jerry Alan West (May 28, 1938 – June 12, 2024) was an American basketball player and executive. He played professionally for the Los Angeles Lakers of the National Basketball Association (NBA), and is widely regarded as one of the greatest ...

in 1975 and was matched against

Oscar Robertson Oscar Palmer Robertson (born November 24, 1938), nicknamed "the Big O", is an American former professional basketball player who played for the Cincinnati Royals and Milwaukee Bucks in the National Basketball Association (NBA). Robertson played ...

where she took a 7–0 lead. Her claim was that they changed the rules and she lost 10–8.Newspaper
/ref> In 2020, due to the suspension of the NBA season because of the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

, the NBA produced a televised event in which NBA and WNBA players participated in a virtual H–O–R–S–E competition while quarantining at their respective homes. The NBA raised $200,000 for charities while Mike Conley Jr. of the Utah Jazz won the first virtual competition, edging the

Chicago Bulls The Chicago Bulls are an American professional basketball team based in Chicago. The Bulls compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Central Division of the Eastern Conference. The team was founded on January 16 ...

' Zach LaVine.

Rules

The modern-day All-Star Competition was similar to that of regular H–O–R–S–E, where each participant took shots from unconventional locations and in unconventional ways to diminish their opponents' chances of duplicating the shot. Certain rule adjustments were made, however, that differed from conventional H–O–R–S–E competition: *No dunking was allowed. *Players had 24 seconds each to create and mimic shots. *An NBA referee authenticated the new shots (that the player executed what he announced) and any mimic shot. The game took place on a ×

court A court is an institution, often a government entity, with the authority to adjudicate legal disputes between Party (law), parties and Administration of justice, administer justice in Civil law (common law), civil, Criminal law, criminal, an ...

, half the size of a regulation length basketball court.

Winners

All-time participants

References

External links

Photo of the court and rig used for 2009 H-O-R-S-E Competition
{{DEFAULTSORT:NBA All-Star Weekend H-O-R-S-E Competition NBA All-Star Game NBA lists Recurring sporting events established in 2009 Recurring sporting events disestablished in 2011