So its finally over, the highly NBA fanfare 2009 All-Star weekend. I have to say that as a fan and critic that this weekend's events and games weren't really all that great...however congrats to the winners of this weekend and it was still enjoyable seeing the NBA's best together for a weekend. Also Congrats to Bill Russell as the Finals MVP Trophy is now dubbed as the "Bill Russell Trophy"
Well I'll start off with Friday night. I thought that the Celeb game was some what entertaining because of the fact some defense and scoring was done. My prediction was right though, Terrell Owens' team not only won but he repeated as MVP! Right after was the Rookie vs Sophomores, and I have to say that it is one of the only competitive game that I've seen from this event. The Rookies played a great first half and even lead by 13 at point but like I said, Durant made sure the Sophomore streak lived on. He simply took over in the 2nd half and got some good play out of the rest of the guys like Jeff Green and Rodney Stuckey. Pouring a new event high 46 pts is the MVP Kevin Durant! So after one night of All-Star weekend I'm sitting at 2-0 and then things get worse...Saturday's events were a real bummer for me, I was highly disappointed. I tuned in right as H.O.R.S.E. was about to start and I must say that it was pretty decent. I picked Joe Johnson but he was the first one out! So there I was 2-1 now and already looking forward to the next events, however I watched the rest as Durant caught fire and all hell broke loose. When the trophy presentation came around...that trophy was hilarious, it looked like something you'd see in the girls toy section at Toys 'R Us. Overall Kevin Durant had a great All-Star weekend, he represented for the Thunder well and I'm sure they have something to cheer for when he returns back to OKC.
So now we move on to the prime time events. First off was the Shooting Stars contest and I was expecting Team SA to repeat. I was way off, because I thought it would be between Team LA and SA in the finals. Instead we got Phoenix vs Detroit. Really this contest is all about making the shots on the first attempts from reasonable range then the half court shot you pray that one of the first 3 shots go down. Well Detroit was the one to beat everyone to it so congrats to them! That set me at 2-2 for the weekend.
The Skills Challenge was pretty decent to me, I enjoyed it overall. I was close on getting Harris correct however Rose was the man of the night! His passing for the most part is what impressed me and he got out and make the course look easy. That free throw line jumper was one that killed Harris but he still is a good shooter.
On to the 3-Point Shootout where I had my bid on the hometown Rashard Lewis. Really this was a decent contest seeing how close it came between Rashard and Cook. I honestly didn't expect Shard to do that well but I'm glad he got that far at least. It sucks to have your team's player lose no doubt but hey I'll take a final 2 overtime period from him. Just get back to the O and come out with a strong 2nd half of the season!
Finally the epic contest of the night, the Slam Dunk Contest. Before I start out I'd like to say that this is a huge disappointment to me, not because Dwight didn't win but because I felt like the whole contest was geared towards a Dwight-Nate or should I say Lex-Superman show-down. Rudy Fernandez had some good dunks no doubt and the one with Gasol could of beaten one of Nate's first round dunks easily. Dwight bringing out the phone booth with the 12 foot rim was pretty epic however the dunk was a bit too simple regardless if it was from 12 feet high. I felt like Dwight just wanted to hang up on the the Dunk Contest for good this year so he did that by letting Nate dunk on him. Then he finishes with a weak dunk! Ironically in the middle of the contest Lebron announces his bid for spot in the 2010 Dunk Contest, which has me thinking that the NBA All-Star is becoming more and more of scripted occasion than what players can really do. Overall Congrats to Nate Robinson now a 2-time Slam Dunk Champion. So now I am 2-5 on this weekend heading into the big Sunday night showdown...The 58th All-Star game in Arizona Phoenix so here we go...The intros were great, Shaq was hilarious all night. The East got a quick start as they ran the floor and out did the West. Hold the phone, the West came back and dominated the game throughout the night after. Dwight got in and had some nice highlights including a jumper, not to mention getting owned by Shaq! Rashard had to take on guarding Shaq which really made no sense, he was basically playing center and you can blame that one on Coach Mike Brown. THe Co-MVPs is really amazing to see, not in a good way but seriously CP3'S 14 points-14 assists doesnt count? Eh...so I finished 2-6 this weekend, and passing the torch we are head to Dallas for 2010! I hope to see the same Magic players back and this time Jameer playing in the games and events, and Dwight at least do his usual gimmicks even if it isnt in a Slam Dunk contest.
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