NBA All-Star weekend in Chicago was an absolutely beautiful representation of the impact sports can truly have on a city and the world. We witnessed inspired speeches, moving Kobe tributes, and a ton of competition across the board. For a weekend full of fun and excitement, I will try my best to recap the events.
Celebrity All-Star Game
The first event of the weekend was the Celebrity game which took place on Friday. The Celebrity game typically features former NBA and WNBA players, TV personalities, team owners, social media influencer, musicians and so on and so forth. The game has had MVP range from Quavo to Kevin Hart to Famous Los to Brian McKnight and here’s a fun one, Arne Duncan. This year’s game featured the likes of Anthony “Spice” Adams, Chance the Rapper, Jon Batiste, and this year’s MVP, Common. While the game did have it’s entertaining moments on the floor, the real entertainment came between coaches Stephen A. Smith and Michael Wilbon. Two of ESPN’s more outgoing and famous personalities. Stephen A. Smith’s team lost 62-47 and on top of that one of the funniest moments of the game was when he received a technical foul midway through game. Want to hear how Stephen A. felt about the game? I got you covered.
Rising Stars Challenge
Outside of the actual All-Star Game, the Rising Stars Challenge was the one event I looked forward to the most. The Rising Stars Challenge is a game that features some of the NBA’s best young talent. The game became Rookies and Sophomores from the US vs. Rookies and Sophomores from everywhere else in 2015. Prior to this weekend, Team World lead 3-2 in the series. This year’s rosters included players like Trae Young, Ja Morant and Zion Williamson representing the USA. While the World team boasted Luka Doncic, RJ Barrett, and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander. This game featured highlight dunks, deep threes, and a nice dose of healthy one on one competition. The World team had control of the game throughout the first half. Leaning much on RJ Barrett and a Luka Doncic half-court buzzer beater to have a 10 point lead at half. Suddenly, the USA team went on a 27-5 run, with much of this run being spurred by Miles Bridges, the eventual MVP. The US team would go on to win 151-131 and have now evened the score between them and the World to 3-3. RJ Barrett of the World led all scorers with 27 points, while the USA were led by Eric Paschall of the Golden State Warriors who scored 23 points on 10-13 shooting. Here are some highlights below (Warning: It is 9 minutes long)
Saturday Night Events
The moment all of my NBA following friends have been waiting for…the NBA Saturday Events. These include the Skills Challenge, the 3-point Contest, and the very umm..let’s say interestingly decided upon Dunk Contest. The Skills Challenge featured 8 players: Bam Adebayo, Patrick Beverley, Spencer Dinwiddie, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Khris Middleton, Domantas Sabonis, Pascal Siakam, and Jayson Tatum. For those unfamiliar, the Skills Challenge essentially tests players’ ball-handling, passing, and shooting ability in a competition against the clock. From the names listed, you would think a guard would be better served for this competition. However, this year’s Skill Challenge proved how the NBA is changing so much so that 7 foot players can win contests like this. This year’s final was between two big men: Domantas Sabonis and Bam Adebayo, with the latter winning the championship. The 3-point contest also bought some excitement. The 3-point contest featured some of the best snipers in the NBA participating: Davis Bertans, Devonte’ Graham, Joe Harris, Buddy Hield, Zach Lavine, Duncan Robinson, Trae Young, and late addition Devin Booker. Continuing on my streak of bad predictions, I picked Duncan Robinson to win and he didn’t. Last year’s winner, Joe Harris lost in the first round and so did my pick. Devin Booker, Davis Bertans, and Buddy Hield faced off in the final. Bertans came in third with 22, Devin Booker came in second with 26, and Buddy Hield won with 27 made out of the 40 possible. Now onto the Dunk Contest…I wish I would have been able to get my preview out in time because I literally said “I would tell you more about the Dunk Contest but…Derrick Jones Jr. will win so everybody else isn’t worth me writing about.” Now, I was right BUT the issue is should Derrick Jones Jr. have won? Him and Aaron Gordon had an awesome battle for the dunk crown. Aaron Gordon jumped over a guy who is 7’7…Yes 7 feet 7 inches and lost. D-Wade and the rest of the judges have been under a ton of scrutiny for Derrick Jones’ victory.
As you can see, this was a very controversial part of the night. You decide for yourself though friends. Either way, they were both amazing dunkers who both deserved a piece of the victory.
All-Star Game
First, I love what the NBA did with honoring Kobe and Gianna. This was a very good move on their part. The new NBA All-Star game format was a HIT! They made every quarter count by resetting the score after each. The winning team of each quarter made a $100,000 donation to a charity of their choice. To start the 4th quarter they tallied up the cumulative score from the first three quarters and the 4th was untimed and they played to a target score. The target score was 24 points added to whatever the leading score was, another way to commemorate Kobe Bryant. This year’s captains: Lebron James and Giannis Antetokoumpo, picked their teams and faced off Sunday night. This game was everything you could ask for in an All-Star game. The athletes played seriously, especially in the 4th quarter. Kawhi Leonard, who I personally think is the best player in the league right now, started the game off GUNNING! This helped Team Lebron secure a 53-41 victory in the first quarter which got them $100,000 to give to their charity. In the second quarter, Team Giannis woke up and the man himself, Giannis helped secure them a second quarter victory. Fast forward to the start of the fourth, the score read Team Lebron 124- Team Giannis 133. So the Target Score became 157. The intensity ramped up until the end, and this is where my one gripe with the new format came into fruition. With the game sitting at 156-155 in favor of Team Lebron, a foul was called that gave Anthony Davis two free throws and ultimately the opportunity to win the game. Of course he misses the first for some excitement to mount and then wins it by making the second. In a game that is that intense to see it all end with a free throw was very disappointing. I think if they keep a similar format for years to come, they should eliminate that all together. Kawhi Leonard would go on to win the first ever Kobe Bryant All-Star Game MVP Award and I personally couldn’t have been happier. All together, a great cap to All-Star Weekend. If you are interested in seeing some of your favorite players play harder than they do on a regular basis, here is the final 5 minutes of the game for your personal enjoyment! Thank you again for checking in and reading. Leave your comments on whether or not you enjoyed the All-Star Weekend festivities, if you agreed with the Dunk Contest decision, and how you feel about the format used for the game. As always, love you all. Thank you for reading! -Quis
1st Quarter With Quis 