Chicago Bulls: The 5 best moments from Zach LaVine’s HORSE win

Chicago Bulls guard Zach LaVine participated in the NBA HORSE Challenge. Here are the five best moments from his victory over Paul Pierce.

5. LaVine showing off the toys

One cool part of the NBA HORSE Challenge is getting to see the shooting setup that each player as at their home. Trae Young possibly shot on an 8-foot hoop (there’s no way that thing was regulation). Paul Pierce has the Celtics logo on his court. Mike Conley’s home gym is ginormous. Zach LaVine’s outdoor court is cool, but it’s the rest of his setup that jumped off the screen.

LaVine has a turf field that he uses for sprint workouts and a batting cage in addition to his outdoor hoops court. Let’s just say it should be easy for LaVine to stay active while social distancing.

4. LaVine’s game-winner

LaVine absolutely destroyed Pierce. I mean, it wasn’t even close. Pierce didn’t give LaVine a single letter. The shot that gave LaVine the win was super impressive. It was from the left wing and way out of bounds. It had to have been at least a 28-footer.

LaVine’s first attempt hit nothing but the bottom of the net. Pierce’s went wide right. Game over.

3. Pierce’s whiffed layup

If you ever wondered whether or not Paul Pierce was still in basketball shape, the answer is no.

When the score was HOR to nothing, LaVine made a left-handed layup, but prior to the shot, added the stipulation that the ball couldn’t hit anything but the net. Of course, this was easy for Zach. He jumped above the rim and dropped the ball through the net. Basically a dunk without touching the rim.

It wasn’t that easy for Pierce.

In what might have been the worst layup ever taken by a former professional athlete, Pierce got about four inches off the ground and… absolutely whiffed the shot. The video was a little laggy, so it was tough to tell exactly what happened, but I don’t think the ball even hit the rim. It looked like he air-balled the layup. Yikes.

2. LaVine’s trickery

The rules of the NBA HORSE Challenge were pretty simple. It was the same as the basic HORSE game that kids play every single day. One of the base rules is that there is no dunking allowed. Zach knew this ahead of time and found some fun loopholes.

LaVine didn’t do any dunks, but he did multiple trick layups that required some athleticism. His first trick layup involved touching the ball on the left side of the backboard and then scoring it from the right side. Somehow, Pierce matched it. His next one, though, left Pierce in the dust. LaVine touched the right side of the backboard with his left hand and then scooped the ball up on the opposite side with his right hand. It was really impressive and way above Pierce’s current athletic level.

https://twitter.com/NBA/status/1249493347984687107

1. Pierce’s near antics

At one point, the camera caught Paul Pierce with a scooter. Yes, a scooter.

This prompted a funny back and forth between LaVine and Pierce that involved LaVine saying he didn’t even have a scooter so he would just have to take the letter if it came to that. Of course, it never did come to that because LaVine ended Pierce’s night before he got the chance to bust out his tricks.

Even though we never got to see the shot attempts, it was still hilarious to hear that Pierce had a scooter and a bike on hand that he was ready to pull out when he got back in control of the game. After seeing him attempt a couple of layups that required some athleticism, I can’t even imagine what would’ve happened if he hopped on a scooter or a bike.

Next up, LaVine will take on WNBA star Allie Quigley in a Chicago vs. Chicago semifinals matchup.