James Jones’ Career Is Revived With a Flick of the Wrist

Coming into Saturday’s three-point shootout, many people had Ray Allen as the favorite to win the competition, but thanks to James Jones’ smooth shooting stroke, the Miami Heat finally beat the Boston Celtics at something this season.  Miami’s deep threat held off Celtics’ teammates Ray Allen and Paul Pierce in the final round to win his first three-point shootout, scoring 20 points in the final round.  The win was sweet redemption for him because two years ago his career was in jeopardy when he ruptured a tendon in his right wrist requiring reconstructive surgery.  It took him two years and a lot of hard work to get to this point but a solid showing in both rounds was enough to take home the trophy.

James Jones joined WQAM in Miami to talk about if Blake Griffin deserved to win the Dunk Contest, whether winning the 3-Point Competition is the highlight of his career, and if he went into the Contest thinking he was going to win.

If Blake Griffin deserved to win the Dunk Contest:
“Nah.  He was not my pick…  That was a great event.  A lot of creativity, tremendous athleticism but JaVale McGee, the people underestimate and what people don’t realize the difficulty of the dunks, the things that he did for someone his size.”

Whether winning the 3-Point Competition is the highlight of his career:
“Personally I would say this is probably the best individual award I have ever won because I think this is the only individual award I have ever won, but it holds s special place for me because I called it redemption because this was an event I aspired to participate in and I felt like I was on my way ther eprior to my wrist injury, and once my wrist injury occurred I wasn’t really sure if I would ever get to this to plateau.  I wasn’t really sure if I would reach this point, so to be able to go there and represent my hometown team and also win it against the all-time greatest Ray Allen, it was special.  Like I said it was just for one day I beat the best.  Now I have to go back to work and try to beat the best in a seven-game series.”

What kind of trash Paul Pierce and Ray Allen talking:
“It was the light banter back-and-forth.  Ray does not talk trash.  Ray is a guy that just does it.  He becomes a leader because he just goes out there every night and he just shoots and he does it without a lot of hoopla and fanfare because that is his craft, that is his skill.  Paul always has something to say.  That is just his nature but nothing too serious because it was all in fun and this was an event that was really for the fans and I think we gave them a pretty good show.”

What he said to Paul Pierce when he knocked him out of the tournament:
“I am not a talker.  Talk does not work for me.  I have never been a guy that talks so when I won those guys congratulated me.  I congratulated them for being a part of it because they definitely fueled my fire and helped me focus, but like I said, it was just shooting the basketball, shooting three-pointers something that I do every single day.”

If he went into the Contest thinking he was going to win:
“Yeah, I went in saying that if unless something crazy happens, unless I just laid an egg, that I was going to win it.  I felt that competition suits me and really there is no pressure for me because that is what I do every day.  Those guys, for the event, they might have to focus in a little bit more.  For instance, they are jump shooters.  Ray is a jump shooter so for him the amount of effort and the amount of consistency you need to make those shots, it takes a lot more than for a guy like me that is just straight up and down, easy stroke.  So guys like K.D., Daniel Gibson, and the same way.  They are jump shooters and it takes its toll when you are talking about mentally focusing in to try to shoot the same shot 25 times straight.”



(sportsradiotinerviews.com)