Photo Credit: TNT
By Reice Shipley on

The festivities of All-Star Saturday Night are something that fans always look forward to each and every year. Unfortunately, some viewers felt like the commentary throughout from longtime TNT personality Kenny Smith took away from the action on the floor.

One of the most intriguing events of the night came when Golden State Warriors star Stephen Curry took on New York Liberty star Sabrina Ionescu in a crossover three-point shootout.

Most were thoroughly entertained by the concept of the greatest shooter in NBA history facing off against the top shooter in the WNBA today.

Curry ended up coming away with the victory, pulling out a thrilling 29-26 victory.

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After Curry’s performance, Smith immediately began to pick apart Ionescu’s performance, saying that she should have shot from the WNBA three-point line if she wanted to beat Curry.

“She should have shot it from the women’s line,” said Smith. “That would have been a fair contest. I still support Sabrina. But she should have shot it from at the women shoot from.”

Even Reggie Miller, who joined Smith in the commentary of the contest between Curry and Ionescu, began to push back against this comment from Smith.

“Why are you putting those boundaries on her? She wanted to shoot from there.”

Smith then continued on to compare this to golf where women have different tee boxes than men, saying it is “for a reason”.

“She should have shot from the line. There is a women’s tee in golf and there is a men’s tee for a reason.”

Things then got even weirder as Smith and Miller continued on, as Miller brought up that in his eyes, Smith wants Ionescu to “play with dolls”

“According to you, you want her to be playing with dolls,” said Miller.

Smith responded by saying no, but that “playing with dolls is good too” for his daughters Kayla and London.

“No, I want her to shoot from where you shoot from,” said Smith. And there is nothing wrong with playing with dolls Kayla and London. Y’all good with that too.”

For reference, Ionescu’s 26 three-point shots made in her performance would have tied Damian Lillard’s score in his final-round of the NBA three-point contest, which he won. So it is safe to say she did not need any help like Smith is alluding to.

The undertones in Smith’s comments throughout this event are pretty obvious, leading to a ton of criticism from viewers on social media.

When it came to Smith’s commentary for the Slam Dunk Contest, it wasn’t much better. He notably blasted all the judges continuously throughout the competition, along with screwing up on the judge’s names, calling him Darnell Tillman instead of Darnell Hillman.

“Gary Payton is a hater by nature, anyway…Dominique (Wilkins) still probably thinks he should dunk. I don’t know what Darnell Tillman is thinking about.”

There were also some other notable issues with the actual broadcast itself throughout the night, including a cut-away at the worst possible time during a dunk from Dunk Contest competitor Jaylen Brown.

Overall, the entire product from TNT on Saturday night undoubtedly had its fair share of issues. And Smith certainly didn’t help matters in the eyes of most viewers.

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About Reice Shipley

Reice Shipley is a staff writer for Comeback Media that graduated from Ithaca College with a degree in Sports Media. He previously worked at Barrett Sports Media and is a fan of all things Syracuse sports.

View all posts by Reice Shipley