christian buschardt
ALL STAR WEEKEND RECAP
This weekend is one for the books, as the NBA tried its best to rejuvenate the All Star events
Rising Stars game
This year's rendition of the All Star challenge was different as it featured a tiny competition between four teams coached by NBA greats. Those teams were team Pau, Joakim, Deron and Jason who led the G League team.
Team Pau ended up winning the whole thing thanks to Jose Alvarado who was a big presence during this weekend, as he won Rising Stars MVP, cameoed in the Dunk Contest with his teammate Trey Murphy III, and gave an interview during one of the Rising Stars game.
Skills challenge
The Skills challenge is as usual pretty underwhelming, as most players don't take it seriously and frankly seem bored of the event. Additionally, the rookies team consisting of Jabari Smith Jr, Jaden Ivey and Paolo Banchero missed most of their shots, making only 1 of them thanks to Paolo as he secured 1 point on the board. Even if they found it difficult to find the net at least the Rookie team seemed like they cared a little about the event.
Celebrity game
The Celebrity game wasn't anything special, like most years, with Guillermo the biggest LeBron fan known to man and close friend to Kobe made an appearance, as well as ordered a pizza on the court.
Compared to last year's rendition which consisted of big names like Jack Harlow, MGK, Quavo and Gianmarco Tamberi the Olympian and gold medalist in high jumping. Compared to this year which featured youtubers and Ranveen Singh for the second year in a row, the celebrity game was made pretty forgettable. DK Metcalf made an appearance as one of the most athletic being he dunked a couple times.
3 point shooting contest
Finally, Damian Lillard has individual silverware, after winning the Olympics, Dame is slowly but surely picking up medals and trophies towards the end of his peak, at least for now. After averaging a career high 31.4 ppg and 4.6 3's a night, Lillard came short of an All Star starter's position, but was the first pick in the all star draft after winning the 3 point contest.
The shooting contest featured both good and not so good shooters, like Julius Randle who was a surprise to see competing in the event. The final was tense as Haliburton and Buddy Hield were facing each other and Damian Lillard to see who is the best shooter in the league (not really but sort of), but the two Pacers were no match to the might Dame.
Dunk contest
It's a known fact by now that the Dunk contest has been worn out, it's become boring and obsolete. The many years before that featured some of the ebay dunks ever shown on such a big stage, even since the 70's with Dr J in the ABA where the dunk contest made its debut.
As the season went by it became more and more difficult to be creative with dunks, as the human body can only do so much, and adding more props just becomes a gimmick and really doesn't show any sign of dunking greatness. In the 2000 all star weekend, the NBA featured Vince Carter in the dunk contest, who changed the game and went down as arguably the best dunker in the NBA's history, in other words, he saved the dunk contest. But saving the contest can only go so far, as years went by as it seemed impossible to beat Vince Carter's 2000 performance.
This year was different though, as the contest featured for the very first time a G League player in Mac McClung who stole the show with four dunks which got more and more incredible, and all on their first tries! McClung ended the show with a 720 windmill dunk, sealing the Dunk Contest for a very long time, much like Vince Carter in 2000.
All Star Game
This year was special for the all star game, as captains chose their players minutes before the tip off, a first for the NBA. This was reminiscent of playground rules, something some players have wanted in the past, like KD who voiced his interest in an interview in last year's all star weekend.
Giannis missed most of the game after scoring the first two points as he injured himself at the wrist moments before the game and didn't want to risk it in a non season game.
Tatum went for 55 points, an NBA record, as he lifted the Kobe Bryant All Star MVP trophy.
Nikola Jokic celebrated his birthday as the first player to play the all star game on his birthday, but only got chosen 7th in the starters draft for some reason. Jokic is a back to back MVP winner who is averaging a triple double as he had to see himself be picked last on LeBron's team.
Finally, team Giannis beat the goal of points scored in the all star team (182) with 184 points, which was sealed by Damian Lillard. You could see the players wanted to get it on with, as Luka and Jokic didn't seem to really give their all and not really having fun, they seemed more interested in the after party to celebrate Nikola Jokic's birthday.
Overall, the all star weekend saw highs and lows, as the highs were really high and the lows very low.