Jeff Hornacek only wanted a midseason, expenses-paid family vacation.
But that's not to say he's giving back the $20,000 he won Saturday night at Madison Square Garden.Hornacek became the first-ever Utah Jazz player to win an individual event during the annual All-Star Saturday Night. He beat fellow finalist Hubert Davis of the Dallas Mavericks and six other NBA long-range bombers to win the 13th annual AT&T Shootout. Top prize: a cool $20,000.
"I just wanted to get into (the 3-point contest) so we could come to New York and have a little family vacation," said Hornacek, who was sandwiched between sons Ryan and Tyler at the press conference afterward. "We'll take the win too, I guess."
Hornacek's sons, decked out in Jazz sweatsuits and caps, watched and cheered their dad on from the sidelines. The Hornacek women - Jeff's wife Stacy and their 3-year-old daughter, Abby - watched from the stands.
The Utah Jazz shooting guard needed to win a tie-breaker over Dale Ellis to advance from the semifinals, but then he ripped Davis, 16-10, in the finals.
Davis, who had the high score of the evening with 24 points in the semifinals, won a coin toss and elected to go first in the finals. It didn't go well. He made only 9-of-25 3-pointers - and was just 1-of-5 in his two-point, multi-colored "money balls," the final ball on each rack of five.
"I just didn't get into a rhythm," said Davis. "I missed my first four shots. I just couldn't get it going. Sometimes it just goes like that."
Hornacek scored 17 points in the first round and 15 in the semifinal. He even had 11 points in just 24 seconds - less than half the time of a usual one minute round - in the semifinal shootout.
So he knew he could beat 10, right?
"I think I only had seven or eight the first time I did this six years ago, so I wasn't counting on anything," he said.
Hornacek finished last in the field of eight contestants the only other time he was a part of All-Star Saturday Night's 3-point contest back in 1992.
"The way I shot in the earlier rounds, I felt I could get 10," he admitted. "I still didn't shoot great. At least I got more than 10."
Hornacek, who made 14-of-25 attempts in the finals, cliched the victory with nine attempts to remaining.
"I didn't think I was going to cut it with guys like Dale Ellis out there and Reggie Miller and Glen Rice," he said. "I guess when you don't anticipate winning, it's probably easier to shoot."