Eastern and Western Conference teams to compete in 2013 Sears Shooting Stars

NEW YORK – Two teams representing the Western Conference and two teams representing the Eastern Conference will compete in the 2013 Sears Shooting Stars as part of State Farm All-Star Saturday Night on Saturday, Feb. 16 at the Toyota Center in Houston

Representing the Western Conference from the NBA are James Harden, who earned his first career All-Star Game nod in his inaugural season with the Houston Rockets, and fellow All-Star Russell Westbrook of the Oklahoma City Thunder. The WNBA stars for the West are Maya Moore of the Minnesota Lynx, a 2012 Olympic gold medal winner and 2011 WNBA champion, and the Seattle Storm’s Tina Thompson, the WNBA all-time leading scorer. NBA Legends Sam Cassell and Robert Horry, who played a combined 31 seasons in the league and won 10 NBA championships, round out the West representation. Cassell and Horry were teammates on a Rockets team that won back-to-back titles in 1994-95.

On behalf of the Eastern Conference from the NBA are Chris Bosh, an All-Star and key member of the reigning NBA champion Miami Heat, and All-Star Brook Lopez of the Brooklyn Nets, who earned his first All-Star nod. The WNBA Eastern Conference stars are Swin Cash of the Chicago Sky, a three-time WNBA champion and two-time Olympic gold medalist, and Tamika Catchings, who guided the Indiana Fever to the 2012 WNBA title and earned Finals MVP honors along the way. The NBA Legends on the East squads are Muggsy Bogues, the shortest player in NBA history at 5-3, who enjoyed a 14-year NBA career, and Hall of Famer Dominique Wilkins, a nine-time NBA All-Star, who finished with 26,668 career points.

In last year’s competition, Team New York, which featured Landry Fields, Allan Houston and Cappie Pondexter, defeated Team Texas in the final round with a time of :37.3. Team Texas was comprised of Chandler Parsons (Houston Rockets), Sophia Young (San Antonio Silver Stars), and Kenny Smith (NBA Legend).

Sears Shooting Stars is part of State Farm All-Star Saturday Night, an all-inclusive skills showcase, which will take place on Saturday, Feb. 16 at the Toyota Center in Houston and will be televised live by TNT at 8 p.m. ET.  The other events consist of the the Taco Bell Skills Challenge, a contest of top guards working against the clock to complete a series of passes, free throws, layups and agility drills; the Foot Locker Three-Point Contest; and the Sprite Slam Dunk contest. For the first time, State Farm All-Star Saturday Night will feature a new format that pits the Eastern Conference against the Western Conference in a night of competitions that will raise money for charity.

The Sears Shooting Stars contest features one current NBA player, one current WNBA player and an NBA legend on each team. There are six numbered shooting locations of increasing difficulty, with each team attempting to make all shots in numeric order in the fastest time. Each team will select a specific player rotation to follow throughout the competition. Each shot must be made before the next player begins shooting

in succession. Teams have up to two minutes to complete the entire shooting course. (Complete rules for 2013 Sears Shooting Stars and State Farm All-Star Saturday Night attached).

The NBA All-Star Game on Sunday, Feb. 17, will air live on TNT, ESPN Radio and in 215 countries and will be broadcast in 47  languages.

About Sears, Roebuck and Co.
Sears, Roebuck and Co., a wholly owned subsidiary of Sears Holdings Corporation (NASDAQ: SHLD), is a leading broadline retailer providing merchandise and related services and  is part of SHOP YOUR WAY, a social shopping experience where members have the ability to earn Points and receive benefits across a wide variety of physical and digital formats through ShopYourWay.com.  Sears, Roebuck offers its wide range of home merchandise, apparel and automotive products and services through its Sears-branded and affiliated stores in the United States and Canada. Sears, Roebuck also offers a variety of merchandise and services through sears.com, landsend.com, and specialty catalogs. Sears, Roebuck offers consumers leading proprietary brands including Kenmore, Craftsman, DieHard and Lands’ End — among the most trusted and preferred brands in the U.S.  The company is the nation’s largest provider of home services, with more than 15 million service and installation calls made annually. For more information, visit the Sears, Roebuck website at www.sears.com or the Sears Holdings Corporation website at www.searsholdings.com.

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Listed below are the previous winning teams from the Sears Shooting Stars competition:

2004 (Los Angeles)

Magic Johnson (L.A. Lakers legend), Derek Fisher (L.A. Lakers), Lisa Leslie (L.A. Sparks)

 2005 (Denver)

Dan Majerle (Phoenix Suns legend), Shawn Marion (Phoenix Suns), Diana Taurasi (Phoenix Mercury)

 2006 (Houston)

Steve Kerr (San Antonio Spurs legend), Tony Parker (San Antonio Spurs), Kendra Wecker (San Antonio Silver Stars)

 2007 (Las Vegas)

Bill Laimbeer (Detroit Pistons legend), Chauncey Billups (Detroit Pistons), Swin Cash (Detroit Shock)

 2008 (New Orleans)David Robinson (San Antonio legend), Tim Duncan (San Antonio Spurs), Becky Hammon (San Antonio Silver Stars)

 2009 (Phoenix)

Bill Laimbeer (Detroit legend), Aaron Afflalo (Detroit Pistons), Katie Smith (Detroit Shock)

2010 (Dallas)

Kenny Smith (Texas legend), Dirk Nowitzki (Dallas Mavericks), Becky Hammon (San Antonio Silver Stars)

 2011 (Atlanta)

Steve Smith (Texas legend), Al Horford (Atlanta Hawks), Coco Miller (Atlanta Dream)

2012 (New York)

Allan Houston (New York legend), Landry Fields (New York Liberty), Cappie Pondexter (New York Liberty)

2013 Sears Shooting Stars

FOUR TEAMS – Two teams representing the Western Conference and two teams representing the Eastern Conference will compete in a two-round timed shooting competition.

(Team=NBA Player/WNBA Player/NBA Legend)

COMPETITION FORMAT

  • Shooting from 6 locations of increasing difficulty, teams attempt to make all 6 shots in numeric order in the fastest time.
  • Six numbered shooting spots will be placed on the floor to designate each shot location.
  • Prior to the event, chooses a specific order of shooting and follows that order throughout the event.
  • Each shot must be made (unlimited attempts) before the next player in the order begins shooting.
  • For Shot #6 (near half court), Player C must take the first shot – then all three players will rotate (in A,B,C order) until the shot is made, which stops the clock and gives the team their official time.
  • A referee will be on-court to pass judgment on any violation of the rules.
  • INSTANT REPLAY At discretion of the referee, instant replay may be consulted for clarification of rules compliance.

TIMING

  • The clock will start at 0:00 and count up; the clock will be stopped when shot #6 is made.
  • Each team will be given up to 2:00 minutes to complete the shooting course.
  • If a team has not completed all six shots as of the 2:00 mark, the horn will sound and their score will be 2:00 and the number of shots completed will count toward any tiebreak scenario (see below).

TEAM ROUND

  • Teams will compete in the following order: West Team #1, West Team #2, East Team #1, East Team #2.
  • The two Western Conference teams will have their times added to get a TOTAL time.
  • The two Eastern Conference teams will have their times added to get a TOTAL time.
  • 20 POINTS will be awarded to the conference that has the fastest TOTAL time for the TEAM Round.
  • The single West team with the fastest time advances to the Championship Round.
  • The single East team with the fastest time advances to the Championship Round.

CHAMPIONSHIP ROUND

  • The fastest West team and fastest East team from the Team Round will compete head-to-head to determine the competition champions.
  • The team with the slower individual time from the Team Round will go first in the Championship Round.
  • 10 POINTS will be awarded to the conference of the competition champion.

TIEBREAKERS

  • 1) TEAM ROUND – In the event both conferences achieve the same TOTAL time, the 20 points for the Team Round will be split evenly (10 points awarded to each conference).
  • 2) To Advance from Team Round – In the case of a tie within conference, where the two teams complete the same number of shots in the same amount of time, a shoot-off will be used to break the tie.
    • The clock will be reset to 0:00 (with a time limit of 1:00) and the team that makes one shot from the “#6” in the shortest amount of time will advance to the Championship Round.
    • If no team makes shot #6 in the designated 1:00 tiebreaker, it will be repeated shooting from shot #5.
  • 3) To Determine Champion
    • In the case of a tie between the two teams in the Championship Round, the same tiebreaker rules will apply as stated above in (2).

Shot Order, Locations and Player Rotation

  • Shot #1 – 10-foot shot from right side angle – PLAYER A
  • Shot #2 – 15-foot shot from left side angle – PLAYER B
  • Shot #3 – NBA 3-point shot from top of the arc/straight on – PLAYER C
  • Shot #4 – 18-foot shot from right side baseline – PLAYER A
  • Shot #5 – NBA 3-point shot from left side angle – PLAYER B
  • Shot #6 – Shot from just inside half-court/straight on – PLAYER C, PLAYER A, PLAYER B, repeat….

State Farm All-Star Saturday Night

WESTERN CONFERENCE VS. EASTERN CONFERENCE

State Farm All-Star Saturday Night will be an event pitting West vs. East in four competitions: Sears Shooting Stars, Taco Bell Skills Challenge, Foot Locker Three-Point Contest and Sprite Slam Dunk.

CHARITIES

Each conference will be competing for two charities, with $350,000 going to the winning conference’s charities and $150,000 to the runner-up’s charities.

TEAMS

  • Each conference has an All-Star captain and an equal number of competitors, as follows:
    • Eleven NBA players (Shooting Stars=2; Skills Challenge=3; Three-Point=3, Slam Dunk=3)*
    • Two WNBA players and two NBA legends (conference aligned) for participation in the Shooting Stars competition.

*Any player announced as an All-Star Saturday Night participant when the “conference team” is named (February 7th), who is then traded by his NBA team to the opposing conference, will continue to compete for the conference to which he was originally assigned.

COMPETITION STRUCTURE

  • Each competition will have two rounds.
  • TEAM ROUND – All competitors within each conference will have their scores added together to get a TOTL time/score.
  • Points will be awarded to the conference that wins the Team Round (best TOTAL time/score).
  • The highest scoring competitor from each conference will advance to the Championship Round.
  • CHAMPIONSHIP ROUND – A head-to-head competition between the highest scoring West and highest scoring East competitor from the Team Round, to decide each competition champion.
  • Points will be awarded to the conference whose competitor wins the Championship Round.
  • The conference with the most points at the end of the night will be crowned State Farm All-Star Saturday Night Champions.

ALL-STAR SATURDAY NIGHT SCORING

  • Sears Shooting Stars
    • TEAM Round – 20 POINTS awarded to the conference with the fastest TOTAL time.
    • CHAMPIONSHIP Round – 10 POINTS awarded to the conference of the champion.
  • Taco Bell Skills Challenge
    • TEAM Round – 30 POINTS awarded to the conference with the fastest TOTAL time.
    • CHAMPIONSHIP Round – 10 POINTS awarded to the conference of the champion.
  • Foot Locker Three-Point Contest
    • TEAM Round – 40 POINTS awarded to the conference with the highest TOTAL score.
    • CHAMPIONSHIP Round – 10 POINTS awarded to the conference of the champion.
  • Sprite Slam Dunk
    • TEAM Round – 50 POINTS awarded to the conference with the highest TOTAL score.
    • CHAMPIONSHIP Round – 55 POINTS awarded to the conference of the champion.
    • In addition, each time a player scores a perfect 50 for a dunk during the TEAM Round, his conference will have 10 BONUS POINTS added to its overall All-Star Saturday Night score.

*Please see the four individual competition rules documents for details regarding their specific scoring, timing and order of competition.